Warden 'disgusted' after Richmond County sacks CAO

Richmond County has fired its chief administrative officer, the second time in less than three years the Nova Scotia municipality has severed ties with its top official.

In a special meeting of council Monday night, members voted 3-2 to terminate the contract of Kent MacIntyre effective immediately.

Warden Jason MacLean said the motion to fire MacIntyre came out of the blue.

"I am currently in shock," he said. "I'm embarrassed. I'm disgusted that any employee would be treated with such disrespect."

Brian Marchand, Gilbert Boucher and Alvin Martell were the councillors who voted in favour of firing the CAO.

Some councillors had complained recently that MacIntyre had not provided spending details in a timely fashion from the budget that covers sundry items, which are items not contained in the operating budget.

MacIntyre was named CAO of the Municipality of the County of Richmond in late 2017. The appointment came a year after an expense scandal where it was revealed some officials were spending public money on alcohol and questionable travel and food expenses.

The former CAO, Warren Olsen, had been singled out and heavily criticized in an ombudsman report. In one case, Olsen charged $582 on his municipal credit card for back-to-back nights at adult entertainment clubs in Houston. He resigned a month after the report was made public.

The budget issue involving MacIntyre was expected to come up at an audit committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Instead, councillors began discussing the matter during Monday's meeting.

"It caught me off guard," said MacLean, who didn't want to expand on Monday's discussions. "I know as warden I am the spokesperson for this group, but I am so against everything that has happened that it is really, really difficult for me to do that at this time."

None of the other councillors or the municipal clerk responded to requests for comment Tuesday. MacIntyre did not respond to requests for comment.