Charlottetown CAO made permanent, with conduct in Alberta still under review

The man accused of approvinghundreds of thousands of dollarsin municipal spending without council approval while serving as a county's chief administrative officerin Alberta, has been made the permanent CAO for the City of Charlottetown.

Peter Kelly has been in the CharlottetownCAO position for more than a year. However, he'sbeen working on an extended period of probation, while the Alberta Department of Municipal Affairs reviews his conduct.

That review is still underway, but Charlottetown City Council has still decided to lift Kelly's probation, and make his job permanent.

"Mr. Kelly has assisted council and staff in careful budget oversight, which allowed us to mitigate our projected deficit of $1.5 million and start 2017 with a balanced budget," Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee said in a news release.

"He has helped to find efficiencies, improve revenues and fill vacancies. Council felt it was only fair to make him a permanent employee."

Mr. Kelly has assisted council and staff in careful budget oversight- Clifford Lee, Mayor of Charlottetown

Kelly was accused last summerby Westlock County's chief financial officer of authorizing nearly $400,000 in non-budgeted spending to develop a site in the county's industrial park for a potential client, without the required council approval.

A month later, Westlock County council's law firm wrote a briefing citing "significant breaches" by Kelly.

Kelly says he acted on council motions

Kelly has defended his conduct, telling CBC that Westlockcouncil "publicly passed the motion to enter into the lease agreement, with the works stipulation being contained in the lease documents ... I worked closely with the public works department and relied on their information and costings to provide myself and council with complete and accurate information."

Now, at the request of Westlockcouncil, Alberta's municipal affairs department is in the middle of a review of Westlock county and the conduct of Kelly. It's expected to be completed this summer.

"Council did indicate in the offer to Mr. Kelly, that should he be convicted of being in violation of any law, his employment status would be reviewed," said Lee.

Kelly worked as Westlock County's CAO from 2014-2016. He also served as Halifax mayor from 2000-2012.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Crab fishermen fail in efforts to have Supreme Court hear appeal on quota loss
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Liberals received more than twice as much in contributions than PC Party in 2016