Town fires director of community economic development, tourism

The town of Sackville is left once again without a director of community economic development and tourism.

After less than a year heading up two of Sackville's most prominent departments, Warren Maddox was given his walking papers last Thursday morning by town administrators.

Sackville CAO Eric Mourant confirmed on Friday that Maddox had been dismissed from his duties with the town as of March 25 but refused to comment as to the cause behind the firing, saying it was a personnel issue.

Mourant did acknowledge, however, that the dismissal came at his recommendation and was then approved by members of town council, who voted on the issue during a special council meeting called last Wednesday evening.

The move came as a surprise, however, to Maddox, who noted in an e-mail he circulated on Friday that the town had terminated his employment with the written reason of "no just cause."

"It was an insulting end to three years of hard work and some terrifically innovative projects," Maddox stated in his e-mail.

Maddox was hired on as Sackville's director of community economic development and tourism last March after serving as the coordinator for the town's Cultural Capitals program in 2007-2008.

At the time, he was viewed as the ideal candidate to fill the post that had been left vacant since Cary Murray's departure seven months before.

Maddox's dismissal last week also came as a shock to the chair of Sackville's downtown revitalization committee Robert Lyon, who has worked closely with Maddox on a number of initiatives.

Lyon, a local business owner, said he's concerned over the firing, which seemed to come "out of the blue" and leaves the business community with unanswered questions yet again.

"Warren has been a vital cog in the downtown revitalization and has really helped push forward the agenda of the committee," he said.

His dismissal also comes at the worst possible time, insisted Lyon, when a new tourism season is just about to get under way and economic development begins to surge in the community.

Lyon admits he doesn't know the specifics or reasons behind Maddox's dismissal but said he's troubled by the fact that several other key employees have either been fired or left of their own accord under this council's term.

In fact, in the past two years, Sackville has seen not only the loss of its community economic development director, but also its CAO, a longtime parks and recreation director, and a manager of recreation programs and special events.

"There seems to be a pattern developing and I think there are serious issues here," he said. "As a committee, we will definitely be looking into this. We want answers and we want to know what's happening."

Mourant said the vacant position isn't expected to be advertised right away but noted that, "with existing staff, we will continue to assume the mandate of that department" for the time being.

The CAO said he is currently concentrating his efforts on developing a human resource management plan for the town - which includes a review of the management structure, existing staff positions and succession planning.

"I will be making my recommendations to council and they will decide how to proceed from there," said Mourant.