Three C A O's, One Term. A Strathroy-Caradoc Council Watch report, published November 4, 2026. This is a computer-generated reading of the report. Citations and the source list are not read; see the report for sources.

In short.

Since the 2022 election the town has had three C A O's, and no permanent one since February 2025. Fred Tranquilli resigned in March 2023 and later became C A O of Perth South Township. Trisha McKibbin, hired in August 2023, was relieved of her duties on February 13, 2025, the day Council met in private for her annual review. Rob Browning has been interim C A O since February 18, 2025; his contract runs to December 2, 2026. No reason has been published for either departure.

Mr. Browning's first offer letter is dated February 11, 2025, and he accepted it on February 12, the day before that meeting. The Mayor has said he signed for the town on February 18, the night Council passed the by-law appointing him; the contract's dates fit that account.

His current contract, released under a freedom-of-information request, has him working up to 30 hours a week, with the option to work from home. He reports to the Mayor, who approves his expenses and time off and, in advance, his housing costs. The Mayor signed it three weeks after ordering an audit of the C A O's housing expenses; the audit's result hasn't been made public, and no public record shows Council approving the new terms.

Housing: the first contract paid a 2,000 dollar monthly allowance. In 2025 the town paid 2,125 dollars a month to its own housing corporation instead; the Mayor said the extra 125 dollars was his own decision and should have come to Council.

Pay: the 2025 salary list shows Ms. McKibbin paid 143,415 dollars and 25 cents for a year in which she worked about six weeks; what it covers isn't public. The lists show no payment of 100,000 dollars or more to Mr. Tranquilli after he left. The long-time Treasurer has retired, and the job was posted in September 2026.

A companion Council Watch report, 'Who Watches the Watchers?' (published November 2, 2026), covers the town's watchdog contract.

Section 1. The C A O.

Timeline.

March 10, 2023: C A O or Clerk Fred Tranquilli resigns; the town gives no reason, and the Mayor says 'no comment'.

March 20, 2023: Treasurer Bill Dakin named acting C A O (By-law 16 dash 23). Council names the Mayor, Deputy Mayor McGuire and Councillor Kennes to the hiring committee.

July 4, 2023: Mr. Tranquilli starts as C A O of Perth South Township.

July 14, 2023: Trisha McKibbin's hire announced; she starts August 21 (By-law 62 dash 23, September 5, 2023).

February 3, 2025: Council sets February 13 for the annual C A O review (moved Councillor Derbyshire, seconded Mayor Grantham, carried).

February 11 to 12, 2025: Offer letter to Rob Browning dated February 11; he accepts on February 12.

February 13, 2025: Special meeting: closed session for the 'Annual C A O Review', then the 'direction given' is approved in public. Ms. McKibbin is relieved of her duties.

February 14, 2025: The town announces the change and names Mr. Browning interim C A O.

February 18, 2025: By-law 27 dash 25 appoints Mr. Browning interim C A O (moved Deputy Mayor McGuire, seconded Councillor Pelkman, carried).

November 3 to 12, 2025: Closed session on an 'Employee Contract' (November 3); second contract dated November 7 and signed November 9 to 12.

February 17, March 16, 2026: Director Rob Lilbourne acting C A O for one month, between the two contracts.

December 2, 2026: The interim C A O's contract ends, about two weeks after the new Council takes office.

Votes: none of these decisions was a recorded vote, so the minutes don't show how each member voted.

Who held the job, and the contracts.

Four people have led the town's staff since 2019: Gregory McClinchey (to November 2019), Fred Tranquilli (to March 2023), Trisha McKibbin (August 2023, February 2025; my F M reported she was 'relieved of her duties'), and interim C A O Rob Browning (from February 18, 2025; By-law 27 dash 25, moved Deputy Mayor McGuire, seconded Councillor Pelkman, carried). Treasurer Bill Dakin was acting C A O in between (Mar, August 2023).

The town extended the interim contract to December 2, 2026 (town notice, November 21, 2025). No by-law or public vote naming the extension was found. On November 3, 2025, Council approved in public an unnamed decision made in closed session on 'Employee Performance or Employee Contract' (moved Deputy Mayor McGuire, seconded Councillor Pelkman, carried). No search for a permanent C A O was found. The Mayor told local radio the extension 'allows the next council to pick their C A O' (machine transcript).

Pay (Ontario Sunshine List, official figures): Tranquilli 174,112 dollars and 10 cents (2022); McKibbin 171,599 dollars and 92 cents (2024). The 2025 list shows both McKibbin (143,415 dollars and 25 cents, for a year in which she worked about six weeks) and Browning (159,560 dollars and 29 cents, with 0 dollars in taxable benefits). The list doesn't say what McKibbin's 2025 amount covers. After Mr. Tranquilli left in March 2023 he became C A O of Perth South Township (from July 2023). The lists show no payment of 100,000 dollars or more to him from Strathroy-Caradoc in 2023 or later; a year's salary after he left would normally have put him on the town's 2023 list.

The interim C A O's contracts aren't posted publicly. By-law 27 dash 25, which appointed him, is one page with no end date or pay terms. A resident gave Council Watch copies of his two contracts, which the town released under freedom-of-information requests with his pay blacked out. What the contracts and the record show.

The first contract. The offer letter is dated February 11, 2025. It ran from February 18, 2025 to 'on or before February 18, 2026', full time on weekdays, with duties set by Council or someone Council chooses. It gave a 'monthly accommodation allowance of 2,000 dollars' and no group benefits (the salary list also shows 0 dollars in benefits). The Mayor and the H R Director signed it, without dates. Mr. Browning dated his acceptance by hand '25 or 02 or 12', that is, February 12, 2025.

When the first contract was signed. Mr. Browning accepted on February 12, the day before Council's February 13 special meeting. At that meeting Council went into closed session for the 'Annual C A O Review' and then approved, in public, the 'direction given' in closed session; the minutes don't name anyone. The town announced the change on February 14. On February 19 the Mayor told local radio 'there was no contract between Mr. Browning and the municipality prior to the announcement.' On March 31 he said Mr. Browning had signed 'I believe two days before'; that he himself signed only when the H R Director brought it to him on Tuesday, February 18; that the agreement was 'just a recommendation'; and that Mr. Browning didn't become C A O until Council passed the by-law that night. The contract's dates fit that later account (machine transcripts).

The second contract. The offer letter is dated November 7, 2025, four days after the November 3 closed session on an 'Employee Contract'. The H R Director signed it electronically on November 9, the Mayor on November 10 and Mr. Browning on November 12. It runs from March 16, 2026 to 'on or before December 2, 2026'. It changes four things.

He reports 'directly to the Mayor on a daily basis', and the Mayor approves his time off and his expenses. (Duties are still set by Council or someone Council chooses.)

Housing is no longer a flat allowance. He is repaid for documented housing costs 'while attending work in Strathroy', and 'all accommodation expenses require the prior approval of the Mayor'.

He is paid by the hour for 'up to 30 hours per week' and may work from home 'as required'. The first contract was full time, weekdays 8:30 to 4:30.

If he is let go without cause, he gets a 'retiring allowance' (amount blacked out) in exchange for giving up all claims against the town, its staff, the Mayor and councillors. The first contract allowed only the legal minimum.

The month between contracts. The first contract ended on or before February 18, 2026, and the second began March 16, 2026. On February 17, 2026 Council made Director Rob Lilbourne acting C A O for that month (the chair: 'only for a month', machine captions). The record doesn't say why there was a gap.

Who approved the second contract. No by-law or public resolution setting its terms was found. In July 2025, using the strong-mayor rules, the Mayor gave Council the power to hire or fire the C A O (MD 2025 dash 01).

Housing. On October 6, 2025, the minutes record the H R Director telling Council the C A O's housing was 'being paid directly to the Strathroy-Caradoc Housing in the amount of 2125 dollars', that 'the housing allowance per the C A O's contract is not being paid no longer', and that the town was 'covering the additional 125 dollars'. The first contract set the allowance at 2,000 dollars a month, so the 125 dollars was the difference. The Mayor said the 125 dollars was his own decision and should have come to Council. The payment listings show four payments of 2,125 dollars to the Caradoc Housing Corporation (June to September 2025, 8,500 dollars in all), one labelled 'C A O RENT'. No such payments appear after September 2025; the listings don't show whether the arrangement changed.

Repayments to the C A O. The listings show 21 payments to the C A O himself, March 2025 to September 2026, 21,082 dollars and 19 cents in all, labelled 'Employee Reimbursement' or 'Employee Expense Reimbursement'. The largest was 8,968 dollars and 75 cents on May 14, 2025. From April 2026, when the second contract's repayment terms applied, they come about every two weeks (213 dollars and 63 cents to 1,078 dollars and 87 cents). The listings don't say what any of them were for, or how much was for housing.

A request for records. On October 20, 2025, Councillor Derbyshire moved that Council 'receive all relevant financial records, including bank transfers, cheques' behind 'a previously submitted financial spreadsheet'. As he read it out, it was about payroll and repayment of the C A O's housing allowance (machine captions). It lost (seconded Councillor Willsie; no recorded vote).

An audit. The same day, Mayoral Decision MD 2025 dash 06 told the Director of Legal and Legislative Services to 'engage M N P to initiate an audit into expenditures related to accommodation expenses incurred by the Chief Administrative Officer'. No result has been made public. M N P was paid 5,932 dollars and 50 cents on December 11, 2025, but the listing doesn't link it to this audit. On December 1, 2025, Council met in closed session on an item headed 'Employee Accommodations'; the minutes say it received a report and gave no direction to staff.

Earlier work for the town. Before he was C A O, Mr. Browning worked with Cash and Associates or Municipal Strategic Planning Associates. He helped run Council's March 2024 strategic plan workshop and presented the Police Services Board's strategic plan in May 2024. After he became C A O, the town paid Cash and Associates 16,122 dollars and 74 cents (May 2025, January 2026), including a payment labelled 'Council Visioning'. David Cash led Council's Vision 2055 workshops on May 12 and 26, 2025. The minutes show no Council approval for that work, but staff can approve smaller purchases themselves. The record doesn't show whether Mr. Browning still had any link with the firm.

Section 2. The Treasurer.

Bill Dakin held the role from at least July 2018 (Council minutes list him as Director of Financial Services or Treasurer) until he retired in 2026. No retirement date has been published; Council said goodbye to him on September 21, 2026. The job was posted September 11, 2026 (closing October 15, 2026) at 134,862 dollars to 168,587 dollars a year. On October 21, 2026 the town said it was choosing people to interview. Lindsay Laskey is listed as Manager of Accounting or Deputy Treasurer.

Dakin's official pay: 127,166 dollars and 56 cents (2022) to 152,716 dollars and 99 cents (2025).

Section 3. Recruitment firms.

The town paid Waterhouse Executive Search 22,035 dollar twice in 2025 (July 24 and November 13), 44,070 dollars in all.

Waterhouse ran the town's 2025 search for a Manager of Building Services or Chief Building Official (applications closed June 13, 2025). Council appointed the new Chief Building Official on July 21, 2025, three days before the first payment. The link between the two rests only on the dates.

The second payment is labelled 'Recruitment, Water Dept'. The town advertised a Manager of Environmental Services on its own job board in July 2025 (closing August 5, 2025). The ad doesn't name a search firm, and the record doesn't show which search Waterhouse ran for this payment.

Neither payment is labelled as a C A O search, and no town C A O search was found; the interim C A O has served since February 2025. (A Waterhouse C A O search, budgeted at 27,000 dollars, that Deputy Mayor McGuire described in his County Council report on April 22, 2025 was Middlesex County's, not the town's; machine captions.)

Section 4. Questions the record leaves open.

These are points where the public record doesn't match a rule or leaves a gap. None is shown to break a rule. Each comes with a possible innocent explanation: Council Watch doesn't know whether it is the true one. It is there because a gap in the record is not proof that anyone did wrong.

1. The wording of the election-period by-law.

During an election, an outgoing Council's powers are limited (often called the 'lame-duck' period). By-law 39 dash 26 (May 4, 2026) gives the C A O, from nomination day until the new Council starts, 'authority to hire or remove any officer or employee'. But the Act doesn't let Council hand over the appointment or removal of an officer it must have, such as the Treasurer or Clerk (section 23.3(1)). Possible innocent explanation: read sensibly, the C A O hires the person and Council still appoints the Treasurer by by-law. Worth watching when the new Treasurer is appointed.

2. Who approves the C A O's costs.

Under the second contract, the Mayor approves the C A O's expenses and time off, and approves all his housing costs in advance. The Mayor signed that contract on November 10, 2025: three weeks after he ordered the M N P audit of the C A O's housing expenses (October 20), and three weeks before Council received an 'Employee Accommodations' report in closed session (December 1). On October 6, 2025 the Mayor had told Council that the extra 125 dollars on the C A O's housing payments (paid monthly, per the listings) was his own decision and, in hindsight, should have come to Council. No public record shows Council approving the new terms (the Mayor's approval role, the 30-hour week, the payout clause) or what the audit found. Possible innocent explanation: repaying documented, approved costs is a tighter control than a flat allowance, and may be the fix the audit concerns called for; Council may have approved the terms in its November 3 closed session; and a C A O's expenses have to be approved by someone.

3. The first offer came before Council's meeting.

The first offer letter is dated February 11, 2025, and Mr. Browning accepted it on February 12, before Council's February 13 closed meeting. The minutes of that meeting record only that 'direction' was given. The record doesn't show who decided to make the offer, or when Council first discussed Mr. Browning. Possible innocent explanation: staff often prepare an offer ahead of an expected decision; the Mayor said members had been consulted beforehand ('Everyone knew', machine transcript); and the offer bound the town only once it was signed for the town (on February 18, the Mayor says) and Council passed By-law 27 dash 25 in public that night.

Section 5. What happens next.

The interim C A O's contract ends on or before December 2, 2026, about two weeks after the new Council takes office on November 15. The Mayor said in 2025 that the next Council should pick the permanent C A O. No search had been posted by October 31, 2026.

A new Treasurer is being hired. During the election period the C A O can hire staff under By-law 39 dash 26, but the Treasurer must still be appointed by Council (see question 1).

Council Watch sent questions to the Clerk on November 1, 2026, including who approved the second contract and under what authority, what the M N P audit found, and what the town has paid in total for the C A O's housing. Answers will be added to this report as dated updates.

Council Watch will update this report as these decisions are made.

End of the reading. The full report, with every source, is at strathroycouncilwatch dot C A.