Shawn Sylvester sits in the CAO's seat at the Town of Battleford council table on Mon., May. 6 and listens while Mayor Ames Leslie (far left) and Councillors Doug Laing, Kevin Russell and Alexis Christensen discuss agenda items. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Interim CAO

Interim CAO named during Battleford town council meeting

May 7, 2024 | 6:05 AM

A new interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) was named during the Town of Battleford’s council meeting, after the departure of Landon Chambers earlier this month.

“I’ll be doing some of the chief administrative officer’s (work), there’s going to be a couple meetings that I’m going to be attending to the interim while council does search for a replacement CAO,” said the freshly appointed Shawn Sylvester.

“There’s many, many things that I still need to learn about the – especially just the interim CAO position entails, but I’m very, very excited for the challenges that I can fully expect this position to bring.”

Sylvester was working as a finance officer before he was recommended for his new assignment.

“It’s very thrilling and nerve-wracking.”

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According to Mayor Ames Leslie, he’s excited to have Sylvester on board.

“Not only to maybe show off some of his skills but also to give him a little bit of an insight to see if this [is] where his future aspirations in the municipal world may be,” he said.

Leslie explained their interim spent most of his career serving municipalities on the finance side.

“This will be a little of a change of scope for him, but confidence is strong from council and as well as our former CAO,” he added, noting Chambers was the one who recommended council to consider Sylvester take up the post.

“[We’re] looking forward to have someone of his stature in the role and to have the ability to have him focus solely on the tasks of the job,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sylvester is looking forward to the next steps.

“There have been a couple of good challenges, good learning curbs that I’m still climbing, and I’ll just keep on climbing.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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