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Simons resigns as CAO of Village of Donalda

The Village of Donalda is seeking a new chief administrative officer after Peter Simons resigned recently, coming shortly after October’s municipal elections.

“I have worked as the CAO for the Village of Donalda for seven years now and I feel that the time is right to move on and pursue several other interests that I have had on the backburner for some time,” said Simons.

Elected in October to a first term on council for the Town of Stettler and re-elected to his first full term as trustee for Clearview School Division, Simons leaves the Donalda position on Dec. 15.

“With a completely new council being elected in Donalda, I also felt that it would be opportune for all concerned for me to resign early on in the new council’s term and allow them to move ahead with a brand new start, so to speak.”

Accepting his resignation during the organizational meeting Oct. 27, council is optimistic to move forward.

“Finding a new CAO will be a top priority of council,” said Mayor Bruce Gartside.

“I don’t expect it will create any problems.”

Assistant CAO Janet Bergstrom will take on added responsibilities.

“She has been here longer than Peter, so she is familiar with the operations,” said Gartside.

“It’s not difficulties we are concerned about.”

Leaving the CAO post was planned several months ago.

“I made my decision last summer to resign, but decided to wait until after the municipal election to announce my resignation as I felt this was the fairest thing to do,” said Simons.

He already has several options to pursue in his career.

“I have several business concepts that I plan to pursue in the near future and I plan to take a number of continuing education courses at the University of Alberta over the next year,” said Simons.