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The Northern Village of Sandy Bay has been under provincial oversight for years with a swath of issues created in part by a lack of a qualified Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
Finding CAOs is a challenge for municipalities, and that challenge is exponentially higher for remote, northern communities.
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“There’s a critical role that those administrators play,” said Randy Goulden, President of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association. “The skills and expertise required is ongoing. There is, you know a shortage and we know that there are no easy solutions to filling this.”
In Sandy Bay’s case, the village was placed under provincial oversight in 2023 and it has not been able to find a qualified administrator since. It was facing issues for years before that as well.
“Sandy Bay continues to experience administrative challenges, including hiring and retaining a certified administrator. Since November 2023, the Ministry of Government Relations has appointed a financial controller to assist village officials with establishing appropriate financial oversight for the village,” said the province in an emailed in response to inquiries by paNOW.
The village’s troubles began well before 2023, as early as 2017.
Among the most egregious issues were tax notices not being sent out, an outstanding bill of more than $3 million to the Canada Revenue Agency, money owing to the provincial ministry of finance around $670,000 and money is owed to SaskPower and the Municipal Pension Fund, according to an inspection report finalized in 2023.
The water treatment plant did not have qualified operators, the village’s solid waste facility was put under Ministry of Environment enforcement, and council meeting minutes were not available when requested.
Over 20 points of non-compliance were found in an inspection report completed in 2023 that looked at only one point in time lasting about a month but acknowledged some of what it found had been building for years before that.
The grader needed repairs, the water works truck was not usable because of an outstanding $400 invoice, the municipal water service needed a pump, and the sewer pump station needed repair.
How staff were hired, fired and paid was also an issue and the inspector found that the mayor and several councillors at the time were doing the work a CAO would normally be tasked with or, in the case of a larger municipality would be delegate to department managers.
Smaller communities face extra challenges, according to Goulden, and may only have the ability to hire one administrative staff, the CAO.
“So that makes the CAO the Chief Executive Officer, also the Chief Financial Officer and the head of HR of a municipal corporation, controlling staff perhaps, but also controlling hundreds of thousands of dollars of assets and infrastructure,” she said.
Pauline Morin was elected mayor of Sandy Bay last year and said it has been a challenge for council with a $13 million hole in the village finances and limitations placed on them by the province until things are in order.
“So there’s a lot of things happening in the village, unfortunately, and me as a new mayor, I’ve been an advocate for the community and going to my meetings, SUMA, highways, and basically trying to reach out, see what they could do to help us to get us out of non-compliance and to see if there’s a light end of the tunnel for us,” she said.
Provincial grants that could help out have not been available because the requirements for the programs were not met.
The financial controller appointed by the province has the responsibility for making sure that critical municipal services are delivered and the money is available for that to happen. They also have the job of stabilizing the village’s financial situation and establishing a full accounting of the village’s financial situation.
That means the financial authority that would normally go to council is suspended and rests only with the controller.
Virtually all of the villages’ staff were let go or have left. Some services are being shared from the nearby Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) reserve. Others, like snow plowing, are coming from Pelican Narrows, a one-hour drive away.
Morin said that she was impressed that Northern Affairs Minister Eric Schmalz made the first ever visit to Sandy Bay by a provincial official a few months ago.
“They came and presented themselves here, which was awesome because never in history, nobody ever got a minister to come this way, this far and made a door open for our community,” she said.
She is also hopeful of a promise by Schmalz to return this summer and have his ministry provide guidance for a path back to independence.
“He said that he would and to see what our community needs, what it is that’s happening, what is it that they can do to help and, you know, to get out of this non-compliance,” she said.
Saskatchewan law requires municipal administrators to be certified, which can be taken in a two-year training program through institutions like SaskPolyTech. If certification is not in place, the person works under the guidance of someone who is until their credentials are in place.
SUMA has been working with Sask Polytech to develop and up to date degree for CAOs to help them prepare for the role.
“It is also, you know, up to us and municipalities to share this with our young people that are in school looking for careers and professions, because clearly this is a great profession to get into,” she said.
Goulden said that the one thing that small, remote communities can offer potential CAOs can’t be found in larger centres.
“They can compete with the quality of life that they can offer. They can also compete with, at times, partners or spouses may be working in that area,” she said.
Small towns and villages are a good training ground for young professionals who do want to move to larger centres eventually.
“They can also compete because many of the younger people coming out of school, it’s very difficult to start in a larger community, and in my mind, starting in a smaller community really grounds them.”
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