By Ian Holmes

Newly hired Lantzville CAO bails for job in Langford

Dec 20, 2016 | 4:44 PM

LANTZVILLE —The District of Lantzville’s previous chief administrative officer barely made it one year on the job — the latest one didn’t even make his first coffee break.

Mayor Colin Haime says Darren Kiedyk, hired earlier this month as Lantzville’s new CAO, has told the district that he is taking a job on the south island instead.

“At the beginning of this week we were informed by Mr. Kiedyk that he has accepted a separate job with the city of Langford and that he was going to pass on the Lantzville acceptance.”

Kiedyk committed to working as Lantzville’s CAO starting Jan. 13 for a starting wage of $110,000. He is currently serving as the CAO for the small north island village of Sayward.

Haime calls the news disappointing and a setback for the district.

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“One of the things with changing CAO’s is there’s new people to get used to and new positions and new considerations with regards to how they interpret things, so getting used to that can be a little bit difficult,” he said.

Holding down a CAO hasn’t been easy for the community of nearly 4,000 people. Brad McRae left the role at the end of September after just 13 months on the job in favour of a management position with the city of Nanaimo. Fred Manson is currently serving as interim CAO for Lantzville. Haime notes that Twyla Graff filled the role from 2005 to 2015.

Haime says council will get together shortly and come up with a game plan.

“We’re looking at getting together in the first week of January and try to come up with a consensus on where to go from here.”