ARMOUR TOWNSHIP, Ont — After 52 years of serving in municipal government across seven municipalities, John Theriault, Armour Township’s chief administration officer, is calling it a day.
Theriault’s last official day as CAO is Feb. 3.
However, he’ll stay around for a while to help his successor ease into the CAO role before he and his wife move toward eastern Ontario to be closer to their grandchildren.
Theriault was born 68 years ago in the community of Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec.
His dad was a construction engineer who built the turbines for Quebec’s power dams, which meant moving from one community to the next.
After several years of this work, the family settled in Port-Cartier north of Quebec City for eight years before his dad became the town manager in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
It’s this that opened the door to Theriault pursuing a career in municipal government.
However, getting a summer job at the age of 16 in Dollard-des-Ormeaux would become impossible.
The year before, a summer student whose parent was a Dollard-des-Ormeaux city councillor got into some trouble, which resulted in council passing a resolution prohibiting the municipality from hiring family members.
But next door was the city of Pierrefonds and Theriault’s dad called the municipality, asking if there was summer work available for his son.
There was, and Theriault worked in the parks department under public works and the following summer came back to work on the local surveying team.
Theriault finished high school and did one year of college, but decided school wasn’t for him and stayed on in Pierrefonds.
He began moving up the ranks and, over 16 years, was put in charge of payroll and was also the senior taxation officer.
When Theriault could move up no further, he left for Elizabethtown in Ontario to become the community’s deputy clerk and deputy treasurer.
He made the move by himself after he and his first wife divorced and he remarried in Ontario.
After Elizabethtown came a stint as treasurer for the Town of Kincardine, which was followed by a relocation to the Township of Tiny, where Theriault became the CAO after the township let its chief administrative officer go.
Theriault then became the CAO of Leeds and the Thousand Islands and later assumed the same position in the Township of Champlain near Hawkesbury, east of Ottawa.
Next came Armour Township in 2014, which in terms of years of service was second only to Pierrefonds, where he worked for 16 years in various roles.
The interview for the Armour position actually took place at a Tim Hortons in Gatineau, Quebec, with former Armour mayor Bob MacPhail.
MacPhail was visiting his daughter in Gatineau and Theriault was also relatively close, so they met.
“John came to Armour with a vast amount of knowledge and experience in all things municipal,” MacPhail told Almaguin News.
“I was impressed after that first meeting. But I was not sure what he might think about a modest-sized, rural municipality in central Ontario.”
There was a second interview that took place in Armour and that was with the entire council, and Theriault then got the job.
Current Mayor Rod Ward was a councillor in 2018, and one of the first things he noticed was that Theriault was not a typical municipal employee.
“My honest impression of John when I started in 2018 was that he was pretty direct and abrupt,” recalled Ward.
“However, over time and especially as I took on the mayor’s role, I came to fully appreciate that this direct approach, based on his years of experience, was a huge asset to our municipality.”
Ward says whenever town council discussed ideas or was bent on a certain direction, it was Theriault’s vast experience in the world of municipal government that would guide council away from initiatives that simply wouldn’t work.
But when the council had good ideas, Ward says, Theriault “very quickly put the wheels in motion to make them reality.”
Ward says it’s because of these traits Theriault has that Armour has been able to accomplish many important and positive initiatives.
Theriault makes no apologies for how he runs a municipality.
“I run it the way I think it should be run and what is best for the residents,” he told Almaguin News.
For Theriault, it’s not a question of agreement but rather of constantly moving a municipality forward, “and when you stop moving forward, I leave.”
Theriault says many members of city or town councils don’t have the expertise to make informed decisions on municipal matters, “which is why they hire people like us.”
“We give them good information to make decisions that work for the municipality,” he said.
“I’ve been doing this long enough that I know what’s good for a municipality and what isn’t. If you’re not going to listen to me, then what am I doing here? If you don’t think what I’m recommending for the municipality makes sense, then I shouldn’t be here.”
There were two occasions during his five-plus decades of working in municipal government where he and the municipality didn’t see eye to eye.
They were Elizabethtown and Champlain, and they and Theriault parted ways.
During the latter period in Champlain, Theriault was looking for other work, which led to moving to Armour, and he recalls those early days in Armour.
“When I first got here, some of the council members thought I was brusque and pushy,” he said.
“And they didn’t think it would work out. But with time, they learned I knew what I was talking about. They understood where I wanted the township to go and they agreed with me.”
Theriault has overseen significant projects with Armour, as well as selling municipal services to surrounding communities, and adds it’s the best town council he’s worked with in explaining his longevity with the township.
Although Theriault had no formal education in the responsibilities he took on during his early years in municipal government, he took many correspondence courses in the ensuing years.
It also helped that he loved numbers and found the work of jobs like treasurer easy.
As retirement looms, Almaguin News asked Theriault what he plans to do after leaving the Armour office.
“I have no idea,” he quickly responds.
Definitely seeing family is in the cards and some travelling, but staying busy with other projects is something Theriault will have to address.
Besides the staff, Theriault says what he’ll miss most about work are the problems.
“I love to fix stuff,” he says.
“Give me a municipality that’s completely out of whack and doesn’t work and I will go in and try and fix it.”
Ward said Theriault has kept Armour focused on where it needed to focus and he’ll miss him personally.
“I will certainly miss his candour, his sense of humour, his fairness and the way he cared for our community, even when he was being a bit rough around the edges,” Ward said.
Ward adds it’s Theriault’s foresightedness with succession planning that resulted in Dave Gray, the director of economic development at Almaguin Community Economic Development, becoming the new CAO, and he’s confident the transition will be smooth.
MacPhail says Armour was fortunate to have Theriault make the move to the township and help with the accomplishments it’s achieved.
“I wish John all the best in retirement,” MacPhail said.
“It’s been a great pleasure to have worked with him.”
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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