ELORA – After years of following in his father’s footsteps, Dan Wilson will be stepping into his dad’s shoes when he officially becomes CAO of Centre Wellington on Jan. 4.
Wilson’s father Don Wilson was deputy clerk/treasurer of the Town of Fergus and later the Village of Elora, and in 1999 became the first CAO of the newly amalgamated Centre Wellington.
“That’s the other exciting part of this,” Wilson said in an interview. “I’m following in his footsteps. I hope he would be proud of me.”
Don Wilson retired in 2001, right around the time Dan Wilson joined the township as budget analyst, but sadly Don died early in his retirement.
Dan Wilson went on to become deputy treasurer in 2003 and in 2005 he left the township and became a consultant, working with municipalities on legislative matters.
In 2017 he returned to Centre Wellington as treasurer and has held that role ever since.
“The thought of coming back (to Centre Wellington) was very appealing,” he said, adding he grew up in Centre Wellington and has deep roots in the community.
“I was done with consulting. And now the opportunity to become CAO … I’m very excited.”
Wilson said his personal priority with the new job will be to meet with council and go over its priorities, even though the October municipal election shortens the term of this council and could see new faces around the horseshoe.
“I want to engage early in 2022 and get to know this council,” he said.
Passing the 2022 budget – expected at council’s Dec. 20 meeting – and establishing those priorities “will give us our marching orders for 2022,” he said.
And after the election he’ll start again with the new council.
Big capital projects in the works include the new business park on Dickson Drive, upgrades at the Elora Community Centre, and numerous road and bridge projects, he said.
Completing those projects will be big accomplishments and improve life for residents and businesses.
He also hopes to improve community engagement, although he noted staff is doing all the right things in terms of inviting feedback on proposals and holding all statutory public meetings.
Still, there are too many times when members of the public get wind of a project after the fact, he said.
“We need to get the community to participate a bit more. It’s important to democracy,” he said.
“We need engagement early in process. It helps council to decide. But once a decision is made and there’s reaction after the fact, it’s hard to reconsider.”
When he moves to the hot seat, Wilson will oversee some 300 full- and part-time staff, a combined capital and operating budget pushing $40 million and a community of 28,191 residents – and counting.
He believes the transition will go smoothly.
He has a deep understanding of how township departments operate in a budgetary way, he’s already privy to a lot of what the CAO does, and he sits on the township’s emergency management team.
Given the new Omicron variant and the township decision not to end the local state of emergency on Dec. 31, Wilson said COVID-19 still could have a big impact on how the municipality can operate, the programs it can offer, and the work it can accomplish going forward.
“But I can hit the ground running,” he said.
“That’s part of what excited me – I’m involved already.”
