By GEORGE BROWN
The CAO of the Rimoka Housing Foundation has resigned.
Gerry Hildebrand, who had been the chief administrator of the regional seniors housing board for nine years, said he was asked by the board last week to resign.
“The board chair approached me about leaving and he reviewed options with me and following that I elected to submit my resignation.”
“I’ve enjoyed my work with Rimoka,” he said. “Over the years we’ve done some good work. I’ve had some outstanding board members and it was a joy to work with them.
“More recently that hasn’t been true. That’s as much as I can say.”
Municipal politicians were appointed to the board by their councils after the October elections and they chose Rimbey councillor Joe Anglin as their chairman.
Anglin couldn’t be specific about the board’s relationship with their employee but he did say philosophical differences weren’t the reason for asking Hildebrand to quit.
“Our CAO has resigned and we’re in the process of looking for a new CAO.
“Gerry made probably a good decision and the board supports him in his decision,” Anglin said. “The board supports him in his future endeavours. I can only say good things about Gerry.”
“I hope to do some work in our industry,” Hildebrand said about his future. He plans to touch base with his colleagues to see whether they have opportunities to work with their organizations.
“One of the good things the foundation has is some really competent managers and in that sense I’m comfortable leaving the organization.”
The Rimoka board will begin immediately to find a permanent replacement for Hildebrand and will rely on its managers to oversee operations in the meantime.
The Rimoka Housing Foundation is financially supported in part by the Town of Rimbey, Town of Ponoka and Ponoka County to operate seniors housing and supportive living units in their communities.
Anglin has talked to the provincial ministries responsible for housing and seniors and has invited their deputy ministers to the next Rimoka board meeting.
“The province has ideas of where they want to go and they want to convey to the board a bit of that in formation,” he added.