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North Saanich approves $26,000 for CAO over ‘objectionable’ comments

North Saanich council has approved a $26,000 payment to the municipality’s chief administrative officer for the way he was treated by some members of the previous council.

North Saanich council has approved a $26,000 payment to the municipality’s chief administrative officer for the way he was treated by some members of the previous council.

The payment to Rob Buchan is “compensation for his treatment at the hands of the previous municipal council,” Mayor Alice Finall said in a statement.

“He had to incur some legal costs, although there was no legal action and none threatened.”

Finall called Buchan “absolutely first rate.”

“It’s unfortunate to have all of this revived because of the way things happened,” she said.

She declined to elaborate other than to say that “objectionable” comments were made about Buchan by councillors prior to the November 2014 municipal election. “I don’t think I can go into it more than that.”

In November 2012, mediation between councillors and district staff was put in place.

Finall and Coun. Celia Stock are the only holdovers from the previous council, “but we weren’t party to that treatment,” Finall said. Buchan took over as acting CAO in September 2010 and was confirmed in February 2011.