Windsor’s mayor welcomes fourth chief of staff in 18 months

Article content

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has selected a new chief of staff — his fourth in 18 months — following Matt Stubbings’s move to the city’s parks department after a short stint in the mayor’s office.

Stubbings, who had held the chief of staff position since May, has been replaced on an interim basis by Christopher Menard, the city’s supervisor of community programming, culture and events.

Article content

On Monday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told reporters he could not discuss human resources issues, but acknowledged Stubbings was still a city employee.

Asked about the search for a new permanent chief of staff, Dilkens said, “We’re going to work with Christopher to get through the next couple of months and do a re-evaluation at that particular point in time.”

Menard had already been doing some work for the mayor’s office, he added, including “a lot of speechwriting” for Dilkens, as well as event planning and other administrative work.

“Christopher has been in my office since 2016 and does a great job. He certainly knows the flow of the mayor’s office, and I look forward to working with him on a different level,” said Dilkens.

Stubbings has been tasked with reviewing and potentially re-doing the city’s parks master plan and its central riverfront implementation plan, two lengthy aspirational documents that haven’t been re-assessed in many years, according to Ray Mensour, city commissioner of community services.

Stubbings has joined the parks department on a “heavy workload” basis, Mensour said. Reviewing master plans is work that would otherwise be done by a hired consultant.

Article content

Before joining the mayor’s office last spring, Stubbings was director of policy for Ontario’s minister of natural resources. He previously served as executive assistant to MPP Mike Harris (PC — Kitchener-Conestoga).

Stubbings took the reins in May from interim chief of staff Abe Taqtaq, business consultant and election campaign manager for Dilkens. The candidate search that culminated in Stubbings’s hiring lasted roughly a year.

Taqtaq became chief of staff temporarily in April 2023 when his predecessor, Andrew Teliszewsky, accepted a job in the private sector.

Teliszewsky joined the mayor’s office in March of 2020. He had previously worked as a provincial government political advisor.

Menard is Dilkens’s fifth chief of staff. Before Teliszewsky, Norma Coleman had held the job since 2004 under former mayor Eddie Francis and then after Dilkens was first elected mayor in 2014. Coleman is now administrative director with the Windsor Police Services Board.

[email protected]

twitter.com/wstarcampbell

Share this article in your social network