The Mayor of Ashcroft says the village is still deciding how it wants to move forward in the search for a new Chief Administrative Officer.

Barbara Roden says Deputy Corporate Officer Daniela Dyck – who is serving as the interim CAO – has been doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances.

“We appointed her acting CAO just before the beginning of the pandemic, and all sorts of things have cropped up so she’s been doing a wonderful job for the village,” Roden told NL News. “In about a month, six weeks or so, we’ll sit down and evaluate and see how we go forward – do we need to do a CAO search or do we stay with how we are.”

Roden says among other options, council will look to see whether to appoint Dyck to the role full time.

“That’s going to be something that council will have to decide and obviously talk to acting CAO Dyck and see what her feelings are about it,” added Roden.

“We will look together and see you know, what are our plans going forward, how does she sees herself fitting in, how does council feel about it, and then make a decision.”

Daniela Dyck replaced Anne Yanciw, who resigned just six months after she replaced longtime Ashcroft CAO Michelle Allen, who retired after 34 years with the village, the last 11 years as Chief Administrative Officer.

“Hopefully when the time comes for that decision to be made, we’ll be starting into the post COVID recovery period, and we’ll have a clearer idea of what the future looks like for the village of Ashcroft moving forward,” Roden added.

“That’s because the picture moving forward right now is very different to what it was when we appointed her acting CAO.”