The Municipality of Waltham has hired Jacob Gale to be its new director general (DG) after its former DG resigned in May.
The hiring committee’s recommendation was made to council at a special meeting on Aug. 31, and at a second special meeting on Sept. 8, council voted to appoint him to the position. Absent from this meeting were councillors Holli Lair and Tyler Rochon.
Gale, born and raised in Waltham, studied political science at the University of Ottawa and business administration at Algonquin College. Since returning to the Pontiac, he has worked as a political attaché for André Fortin and most recently as a project coordinator with Carrefour jeunesse-emploi du Pontiac.
Evans said the municipality first opened the job posting for the position in June, but this round did not lead to any interviews. The municipality reopened the job posting at the end of July, and received four applications for the position.
“Ultimately, one candidate proceeded to the interview stage, as the other three candidates withdrew from the process,” Evans told THE EQUITY.
Former DG Annik Plante resigned from the position in May, citing a lack of support and a “toxic and unsustainable” relationship with the mayor as reasons for her decision.
Evans disputes this characterization. At the time, she told THE EQUITY she believed there could be “differing perspectives” regarding communication, governance and working approaches.
She said she was conscious of the distinction between the governance role of elected officials and the administrative role of the director general and staff, and “may have deliberately tried to avoid being involved in day-to-day administrative operations in order to respect that separation of roles.”
Evans said the municipality’s administrative agent was appointed as interim-DG in June following the previous DG’s resignation, and her interim mandate ended Aug. 15, at which point she returned to her role as administrative agent.
Temporary adjustment to payment process
At the Sept. 8 special meeting, council also passed a resolution approving a temporary arrangement that would ensure continued payment of bills between when the interim-DG returned to her regular position and Gale began as DG on Sept. 15.
“Under the municipality’s normal payment process, transactions are entered administratively, reviewed by the director general, clerk treasurer, and then receive a secondary review and approval at the elected level. At present the director general-clerk treasurer position is vacant,” she explained.
“The intention is not to create a new financial process. It’s simply to acknowledge that there is a temporary gap and allow the municipality’s existing payment process to continue until the new director general-clerk treasurer assumes office.”
She said under the new system, administration will input transactions and the mayor or pro-mayor will perform the elected level secondary review and approval.
“The resolution also recognizes that the mayor and pro-mayor require the necessary banking access and permissions to perform that existing function. Once the new DG assumes office, the normal three-step review process will resume.”
