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Note: This story was updated at 5:45 p.m. to include comments from Sackville Councilor Michael Tower.
Local Government Minister Daniel Alleyne rejected Mayor Sean Meshew’s request for an independent review of the process behind Tantramar’s hiring of a new CAO. In a letter to the council this week, Allain said he stood by his appointment of Dorchester chief executive Jennifer Bourne to head up the staff of the new Tantramar municipality. The only other candidate for the post was Sackville CAO Jamie Burke.
Mesheau wrote to Allen about two weeks ago after the Sackville City Council asked him to do so at their regular meeting in July. Mesheau called the process that led to Bourne’s appointment “fundamentally flawed” and requested a meeting with Allen and a review of the entire process by an independent human resources consultant.
The minister and mayor met last week and this week Allen sent his response to all councillors, expressing his “confidence in the recruitment process leading to [his] decision to cast Jennifer Bourne in the role.
Allain’s letter mentions the province’s contract with Jennifer Murray Consulting of Moncton, who he said are “responsible for overseeing the biased free [sic] recruitment process leading to a fair and objective assessment of applicants.’
The letter reads: “The job advertisement, essential qualifications, competencies and applicant evaluation table are based on an objective assessment of the requirements of the position and all applicants are evaluated based on the established criteria.”
Allain then offered a timeline of the process that took place.
On June 3, a small subcommittee on human resources was appointed by provincial appointee Chad Peters. This committee included Sackville Deputy Mayor Andrew Black, Dorchester Deputy Mayor Robert Corkerton and appointed representative from the Sackville Local Service Area Chris Milner.
Black later explained to CHMA that he had concerns about the composition of the committee at first because it included two people with existing working relationships with the applicants. Black has worked with Jamie Burke for years, and Robert Corkerton has also worked with Jennifer Bourne. That would leave provincial appointee Chris Milner to break a likely tie.
Black says he raised those concerns with Chad Peters before the trial began, but was told the process had been settled and the same process was being used across the province.
Black would later resign, but not before conducting a round of interviews with candidates on June 8 and 14. According to Allain’s timeline, Black’s resignation came on July 15, a day after “the human resources subcommittee finalized its evaluation of the applicants as well as its recommendation of the most qualified candidate for appointment.”
Black agrees that he participated in both interviews and that the committee essentially finished its work when he resigned, but says he did not sign the recommendation.
Jennifer Bourne has been CEO of Dorchester for almost five years, managing a team of three full-time employees and two temporary workers. Burke was appointed as Sackville’s chief executive in April 2020 and has since that month managed around 37 permanent staff as well as temporary and summer contracts.
Reactions from Sackville City Council
Mayor Shawn Mesheau is out of town and unavailable for comment this week, so CHMA reached out to Sackville city councilors to get their reactions to Allain’s refusal to review the hiring process.
Councilman Bruce Finney was not at the meeting, where the council unanimously asked the mayor to express his concerns to Allen, and may not have supported the proposal. Finney has long been critical of Jamie Burke and was the lone vote against Burke’s appointment in 2020. Earlier in July, Finney responded positively to the news that Jennifer Bourne would be appointed as Tantramar CAO. Finney told CHMA via email that he felt the hiring committee had “hired the right person for the CAO position” and that he wished Jamie Burke the best.
Deputy Mayor Andrew Black had previously shared his concerns about the hiring process, but declined to comment on Allen’s response.
Councilor Sabine Dietz, who made the motion to send the letter to Allen, responded via email that she was “not surprised” given that the provincial government “hasn’t budged an inch” on Sackville City Council’s demands during of the local government reform process. Dietz said that while she is not surprised, the situation remains “frustrating and infuriating.”
Councilman Bill Evans, who has been an outspoken opponent of the merger process all along, was ready to share his thoughts in a phone interview Tuesday night.
Here’s that interview, edited for length:
Evans says he’s not pleased but not surprised by Allain’s response, which he characterizes as: “The person who created the flawed process assured us that it wasn’t flawed.”
Evans says he can’t prove it, but suspects Minister Allen punished Sackville for being outspoken about the local government reform process.
When the plan for forced mergers came to light, recalls Evans, “we were advised by some people that pushing back would make the minister angry with us and we might suffer consequences. And I thought, oh my god, this is like a mob protection racket. We cannot call out wrongdoing to avoid being punished.
Evans says he believes the process was flawed in part because of the membership of the human resources committee that made the final recommendation to Allain. “One of them was the host [Chad Peters] appointed by the minister, one was a man [Chris Milner] appointed by the Facilitator and one represented Dorchester [Robert Corkerton]says Evans. “And they choose Dorchester CAO.”
Evans also believes that based on Bourne’s work experience running the village of Dorchester and working for the city of Amherst, she would not be shortlisted in an outside hiring process like the one used to hire Jamie Burke in 2020. “With that CV, she wasn’t going to get an interview,” says Evans.
“It’s not a personal thing against [Borne]says Evans. “But a group of people chose someone who I think is the worse candidate.”
Evans was one of seven councilors who voted to hire Jamie Burke in 2020. “We have someone who has done the job well and has the support of the existing council, representing anything, two-thirds of the population of a new entity says Evans. “And the minister imposed his will and chose another. And my opinion is that he did it out of malice.”
“Moving forward as Tantramar”
Councilor Michael Tower told CHMA this afternoon that he hopes the city can move forward once the decision on a new CAO is made.
Tower says he voted in favor of Allain’s request to review the decision not based on concerns about Borne’s qualifications, but out of curiosity about what led Deputy Mayor Andrew Black to resign from the process and call it flawed. He says he wanted to hear Allain about the trial and now that he has, he accepts the decision.
“I gave up this fight saying ‘that’s not going to happen, we can’t let it happen.’ We’ve gone through decisions that directly affect us, and yes, it affects us too,” says Tower. “But it is [Allain’s] responsibility to make that decision. And I accept the fact that he made that decision.
“I think we’re moving on from that,” says Tower. “We move forward as Tantramar. And I think we need to move into unity on this.”
CHMA reached out to Jennifer Bourne for an interview, but she was unavailable at this time. We hope to bring you this interview in the near future.
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