John France, the chief administrative officer for the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), tendered his resignation on June 22, leaving acting CAO Angie Legault in charge until further notice.
France held the CAO position at the SCRD since 2006 and had been on leave since April 20 of this year.
His resignation was announced by the SCRD board at the June 25 regular board meeting, and no reason was given. However, in an interview, France told Coast Reporter he left in order to “consider a change in my career.”
France has worked with the SCRD since 2000, first as a general manager of corporate services and then as CAO.
“I’ve been an employee of the SCRD for 15 years,” France said, noting 15 years with one employer “is a long time.”
“I’ve got to say that I’m immensely proud of all the accomplishments we have successfully completed for our community while I was CAO. We’ve done the water treatment plants for Chapman and for Pender Harbour during that period, we’ve got new recreation facilities, we’ve got transit rider improvements, and administration, I think, is in really good hands,” France said.
“The credit has to be with the SCRD’s thoughtful, hardworking, engaged staff. You don’t do this yourself as CAO, you need good staff to do this stuff, and I was honoured and am honoured to have been part of that great team.”
The 62-year-old France has no immediate plans for a change of career and intends to take some time to be with his family in the coming weeks while he weighs his options.
The SCRD board was planning to meet on Thursday, after Coast Reporter deadline, to discuss how to move forward with filling France’s position permanently.
