CAO EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT TOOLKIT
Recognizing the importance of an employment contract for municipal administrators, the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) developed a CAO Employment Contract Toolkit which is available to members by visiting the Member’s Section (Resources area) of the CAMA website.
This toolkit is meant to be a resource to support our members whether they are existing CAOs (or senior administrators) with past experience in the role or potential future CAOs with no experience as a CAO when negotiating their contract with elected officials. The toolkit provides guidance and support to our members along with recommendations and best practices that are a win-win for both parties.
The Toolkit offers information on how to assess the political environment and culture of the community, how to negotiate an employment contract, important provisions to include, the different legislation requirements between Provinces and Territories, pension/portability and benefits, the importance of having a performance evaluation, legal advice - just to name a few. It also provides some sample contracts, a sample CAO Bylaw with a job description and sample contract clauses for each topic.
There will be sections of the toolkit that make more sense for a CAO or Senior Administrator of a different sized community, a rural versus urban community or a community in another Province, so while the Committee made every effort to ensure the toolkit covers all potential situations, it is again important to ensure you have done your local research to understand what the norms are for that particular community or region.
