GRAVENHURST - Although here for just a short breath in time, the town’s main spoke of communications is gone.
Tony Rossi, the town’s director of economic development and communications is no longer with the corporation.
In a surprising and sudden announcement by the mayor in the evening hours of Sept. 19, Rossi joins former CAO Frank Miele in leaving after only a few short months in Gravenhurst.
“Effective this afternoon, council decided to end the working relationship with Tony Rossi and the corporation,” Mayor Paisley Donaldson’s release stated.
In an interview with the Weekender, Donaldson said she could not expand on the reasoning much, other than “we just decided to end the working relationship.”
“We are going to relook at that position,” she said. “I know the timing doesn’t look good (in relation to Miele’s departure) but we just needed to re-examine that position.”
Rossi was hired earlier this March to take over a position long left vacant in the town, having held a number of leadership positions, including more than 10 years with the City of Mississauga dealing with various levels of government in strategic planning. He worked with Miele in Meaford and maintained his home in Vaughan while working here in Gravenhurst. The position had been vacant since April of 2011 when former economic development manager Peter Rigby and the town parted ways.
“Some projects will be put on hold until a new CAO starts, others, between the department heads, we will pick up the pieces of different projects and move on,” Donaldson said, saying there will have to be a determination of project priority before determining some of those. “We are functioning well, I know everybody’s worried and I understand that, but we do have it under control.
“This ship is still sailing,” she added. “We’ve hit a few waves along the way, but we’re still moving forward.”
It was the second major staff loss in less than 24 hours, as Miele and the town ended their relationship Tuesday immediately prior to council’s Sept. 18 meeting, rather than waiting out until Oct. 26, when Miele had planned to leave his post for the same in the Town of Erin. Miele announced his resignation Sept. 5 after joining the municipality in mid-February.