Major changes are taking place at the senior staff level in Guelph-Eramosa.
On the same night the township officially launched its search for a new chief administrative officer, council formally introduced a new manager of public works.
Saidur Rahman of Mississauga will take over from interim manager Rod McClure, who stepped in when previous director Mark Robertson went on sick leave.
Rahman, who started on Nov. 4, comes to the township after serving for six years as an infrastructure project leader with Oakville’s engineering and construction department.
He said he is pleased to join the township and likes what he has seen of the municipality in his first week.
“I wanted to use my public infrastructure knowledge in a leadership role,” Rahman said of why he took the job.
He told the Advertiser he will focus on regular, ongoing projects while he gets acclimatized to the township and the position.
Mayor Chris White said Rahman is a good fit because he is knowledgeable in all facets of the job, including budgets, engineering, asset management and dealing with people.
“He has an overall understanding of what the position entails,” White said of Rahman. “We felt fairly confident that what he had to offer meets our needs at this time.”
At the Nov. 4 council meeting the mayor thanked McClure for doing a fine job after stepping in when Robertson went on sick leave earlier this year. White said the township ran like “a well-oiled machine” under McClure’s guidance.
White would not offer details, but he explained Robertson remains on long-term sick leave, prompting the township to hire Rahman.
“We had a vacant position … it has been vacant for some time now and we needed to fill the position,” White said following the Nov. 4 meeting.
Prior to his tenure with Oakville, Rahman worked for the government of the Northwest Territories and National Research Council (NRC) Canada on a municipal infrastructure investment planning project.
