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Vol. 18, No. 36, Wednesday, August 2, 2023 www.LamontLeader.com
Andrew Council fires 3rd CAO in under 2 years BY JANA SEMENIUK The Village of Andrew terminated the contract of their newest Chief Administrative Officer Tim Melnyk during the July 26 council meeting after a closed session where Melnyk was asked to step out. When the meeting came back in session, Mayor Merwin Haight made the motion to terminate the contract. “The first motion on the table is to terminate the chief administrative officer employment contract with Mr. Tim Melnyk effective immediately,” said Haight, which was carried unanimously. The council then voted for a 15minute break where Melnyk said very little as Haight ushered him to his office to ask for any property belonging to the Village. Once the meeting reconvened, Mayor Haight made several additional motions resulting from the closed session. The next motion was to appoint Sharman Donald, chief financial offi-
cer, as the interim CAO effective immediately. The motion was carried unanimously, while a third motion was made to direct Donald to hire a returning officer and a substitute returning officer as required under the local authority election act, also carried unanimously, before Haight made another motion. “Next motion out of closed session to direct the interim CAO to collect costs and availability for a municipal advisor slash consultant and report back to council,” he said, which was also carried unanimously. The interim CAO was also directed to return to council with the information on or before Aug. 2. Haight would not comment on why Melnyk’s contract was terminated and Melnyk did not respond to a request for comment before press time. Melnyk is the third CAO to be terminated by the Village of Andrew since the new council was elected in Oct. 2021. Melnyk was hired in Jan.
Former Village of Andrew CAO Tim Melnyk listens to a delegate at the July 26 council meeting prior to a closed session where the decision was made to terminate his contract. Photo: Jana Semeniuk
STORM WATCH Lamont resident Gail Gruendel captured a photo of lightning streaking across the sky in Lamont as a storm rolled over the county July 30. Photo: Gail Gruendel