Andrew Council fires 3rd CAO in under 2 years

New Two Hills Sergeant meets Village of Andrew Council and discusses area priorities

BY JANA SEMENIUK

The Village of Andrew terminated the contract of their newest Chief Administrative Officer Tim Melnyk during the July 26 council meeting after a closed session where Melnyk was asked to step out.

When the meeting came back in session, Mayor Merwin Haight made the motion to terminate the contract.

“The first motion on the table is to terminate the chief administrative officer employment contract with Mr. Tim Melnyk effective immediately,” said Haight, which was carried unanimously.

The council then voted for a 15minute break where Melnyk said very little as Haight ushered him to his office to ask for any property belonging to the Village.

Once the meeting reconvened, Mayor Haight made several additional motions resulting from the closed session.

The next motion was to appoint Sharman Donald, chief financial officer, as the interim CAO effective immediately. The motion was carried unanimously, while a third motion was made to direct Donald to hire a returning officer and a substitute returning officer as required under the local authority election act, also carried unanimously, before Haight made another motion.

“Next motion out of closed session to direct the interim CAO to collect costs and availability for a municipal advisor slash consultant and report back to council,” he said, which was also carried unanimously.

The interim CAO was also directed to return to council with the information on or before Aug. 2.

Haight would not comment on why Melnyk’s contract was terminated and Melnyk did not respond to a request for comment before press time.

Melnyk is the third CAO to be terminated by the Village of Andrew since the new council was elected in Oct. 2021.

Melnyk was hired in Jan.

BY JANA SEMENIUK

Girls ages eight and up wanting to play competitive hockey will now have the opportunity to join a new local all-girls team.

A representative for the Silverback Heras, which began earlier this year, said a successful spring season paved the way for an upcoming winter season.

“We had a great group of girls and parents and the girls did so well. We had 15 girls on our team (and) they played in Calgary which has a lot of hockey academies and a lot of other girls’ teams.

For a first-year team, they got bronze which is a pretty good accomplishment,” he said.

The representative said the Silverbacks Hockey Club started in 2020 by a family from Fort Saskatchewan who played out of their home rink and Lamont.

He said the club plays independently from Hockey Alberta which allows them more options.

“You can draw kids from any area to be on your team, there’s no rules when it comes to boundaries,” he said, adding the entire year’s schedule is laid out at the start including showcases and practices. “It also gives parents more of an option to focus on (player) development.”

The Silverback Heras are looking for players and have three ID skates scheduled in Fort Saskatchewan on Aug 13 at 10:45 a.m. and 27th at 5:00 p.m. at the Dow Arena, and Aug. 17 at the Sportsplex for 7 p.m.

Players can register by emailing silverbackheras@gmail.com and the cost to participate in the ID skate is $20.

“It’s a good chance for girls from all over the area to come together and be part of something special where they can focus on their development, (and) come and play competitive hockey at the same time,” said the representative, adding the winter team will be utilizing ice out of Lamont for the winter season.