GRAVENHURST - Although having intended to stay with in his post until late October, CAO Frank Miele is no longer with the Town of Gravenhurst.
“Given the personal challenges being faced by Frank and his family, council agreed that he needed to be closer to home and his family during this time,” Mayor Paisley Donaldson said in a short press release, given to media midway through the Sept. 18 council meeting, mysteriously absent its CAO at the beginning.
“Council is confident that operations will not be affected and that things will carry on until a new CAO is in place.”
The town and Miele came to the agreement Tuesday afternoon, just prior to the regularly scheduled meeting.
“We felt it was best for both him and the corporation for him to be able to concentrate on his family matters back home,” Donaldson said later in an interview with this newspaper, but would not go into more detail about the separation.
She did admit there will be impact to staff and operations in some regard as current staff and management will divvy up the CAO duties for the time being.
“We will not have an interim CAO; we’ve asked staff to do what they do best until he’s replaced,” she said. “Right now we’re (council) looking at who’s going to do what and disperse his duties through the appropriate department heads.”
Miele, who took the Gravenhurst post from Meaford this past February, announced Sept. 5 he was resigning as CAO to be closer to family due to issues. The evening prior, he was announced as the new CAO for the Town of Erin, near Guelph and closer to his kin.
That particular chain of events did not sit well with some members of council as the Erin posting closed in May, shortly after he arrived.
Miele in both his resignation press release and in interviews said he had every intention of remaining until the end of October to assist with the transition.
The position has been advertised since Sept. 7 and will close later this month and already, Donaldson said response has been good.