GRAVENHURST - It’s a bit of out with the new and in with the old as David Weldon will be returning to the municipal fold.
The former interim CAO, who served from April 2011 until this past February when Frank Miele took over the full-time role, will slip back into the hot seat. On Sept. 24, the town announced it has filled the post, made vacant by Miele’s recent resignation, and Weldon will return to Gravenhurst as the full-time CAO.
“Everybody’s really happy to have him back,” Mayor Paisley Donaldson said. “It’ll really help that everybody’s very familiar with him and he’s quite familiar with us and the corporation as a whole.”
“He’s going to be walking right into the fire too,” she added, saying his primary responsibility when he assumes the chair will be to begin crafting a 2013 budget.
Weldon brings 35-plus years of experience in Ontario municipalities, including 25 years as CAO at the municipalities of Richmond Hill, Chatham-Kent and Innisfil.
“Dave became very familiar with the Town of Gravenhurst during the recent nine-month period while he was our interim CAO, and we are very fortunate to have him return to Gravenhurst in a full-time capacity,” the mayor added.
“He will assume the conditions of Mr. Miele’s financial arrangements while carrying on with the various projects and activities that were underway, commencing those projects that were in the works, and of course managing all day-to-day activities of the corporation.”
Weldon’s extensive community involvement has included a 10-year term on the board of trustees of York Central Hospital, including a two-year term as its chair. He is a member of the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO), the Ontario Municipal Administrator’s Association (OMAA), the International County and City Managers Association (ICMA) and of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Association of Ontario (ADROntario). He has served as both the president and secretary-treasurer of the OMAA.
Weldon graduated with an honours degree in business administration from the University of Western Ontario. He has received his AMCT designation from Queen’s University and has been awarded a certified municipal clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.
He has a diploma in public administration from the University of Western Ontario and a certificate in alternative dispute resolution from York University.
Weldon had essentially retired after leaving Gravenhurst this winter, but Donaldson said due to his familiarity with the council and area, “he thought he’d be willing to come back on a full-time basis.”
Weldon is currently on holiday overseas, but Donaldson added once he returns he will get right to work and should be in the CAO post by the second week of October.