Skip to content

Ombudsman finds Niagara CAO hiring was “Inside job”

Investigation ends with a 72-page document and 16 recommendations

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé released a report today after investigating the hiring of former CAO Carmen D’Angelo.

The report was a summary of a 72-page document detailing the investigation and can be found online here.

The damning report concluded, “The Regional Municipality of Niagara’s 2016 CAO hiring process was an inside job, tainted by the improper disclosure of confidential information to a candidate – a candidate who was ultimately successful and became the region’s most senior administrator,” Mr. Dubé writes in his report, entitled "Inside Job."

A press release earlier today from the Region stated:

While Regional Council was given a chance to review a draft of the report on Nov. 14, councillors and staff will now be taking time to carefully review the final report, including the Ombudsman’s recommendations.   

The Regional Chair is calling a special council meeting on Dec. 5, 2019, starting at 3 p.m., to discuss the contents of the Ombudsman’s report publicly.

Niagara Region is committed to being as open and transparent as possible during this process.

Mr. D’Angelo was provided with substantive content to be used in his application materials by insiders who had access to information not available to the general public or to other candidates,” the Ombudsman noted. “The lack of fairness and transparency in the hiring process created controversy and distrust within the region and served to undermine public confidence in local government.

The investigation began on Aug. 30 after Dubé received 113 complaints about the hiring of D’Angelo.

In the summary he also revealed, “Digital files retrieved from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), where Mr. D’Angelo worked before he was hired by Niagara Region in the fall of 2016, showed that he envisioned the replacement of the regional municipality’s previous CAO as far back as December 2015, when he authored a spreadsheet called 'CAO Critical Path'.” The spreadsheet accurately predicted the day that regional council tried to fire the then-CAO a month later, and set out a timeline for the recruitment of the new CAO. Prior to and throughout the recruitment process, Mr. D’Angelo downloaded eight documents containing confidential information or help from regional insiders to his NPCA computer.”

Dubé made 16 recommendations to avoid similar situations in the future and Regional Council has unanimously accepted all of them. 

The complete 72 page report can be found here.