Linda Tynan, Summerland’s chief administrative officer, has resigned from her position at the municipality.
Tynan had been with the municipality since 2015 and during her time, she worked with council initiatives including the Summerland Arts and Cultural Centre and Summerland’s solar project.
“I am very proud of all of the initiatives that got underway during the four years that I was CAO in Summerland and expect that many positive things will result from some of those over the next while,” Tynan said. “I will miss many of the district staff as they are committed to the community and the organization. I will especially miss working with many of the individuals from the community that I was fortunate to work with.”
Her resignation on Monday took effect immediately.
Tynan said she made the decision to leave the municipality for personal reasons.
“It was time to make a change,” she said. “I was splitting my time between two households — one in Summerland and one in Nelson. The traveling started to get to be too much and I missed being with my family during the week.”
Corine Gain, Summerland’s director of development services, will serve as acting CAO for the municipality.
Mayor Toni Boot said the municipality will now begin the process of finding a replacement for Tynan, likely by hiring an interim CAO first and then searching for a permanent CAO.
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Boot said the search process will likely take until late spring.
“This is the highest staff level we have,” she said.
She added that after a municipal election, there is movement of senior level municipal staff members in communities around the province.
The latest municipal election, when Boot was elected as mayor, replacing Peter Waterman, was held just over six months ago, on Oct. 20.
“It’s not uncommon within the first six months after an election for a CAO position to be vacated and for someone else to step in,” Boot said.
She added that Tynan was not forced to resign from her role with Summerland.
“Linda and I had a really good relationship,” Boot said, adding that when Tynan was hired by the municipality, she was working with a new council.
None of the six councillors elected in the 2014 municipal election had ever served at the Summerland council table, and only one had previous experience at a local government in Ontario. In addition, Waterman, who was elected mayor at that time, had previously served as a councillor but not as mayor.
Tynan, who has spent 16 years in municipal government, has not decided what lies ahead for her.
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