Travis Rob (L) was named Interim Chief Administrative Officer for the town of Fort Frances on April 3, 2023.

Travis Rob is now interim Chief Administrative Officer for the town of Fort Frances.

Council approved the move in response to the sudden departure of Faisal Anwar.

Little was said about the change at Monday’s special meeting.

“Mr. Rob showed exceptional leadership during the pandemic and recent flooding,” said Mayor Andrew Hallikas in a release issued after the meeting. “Council has confidence in the leadership of Interim Chief Rob to help implement council’s directions and initiatives.”

“I’m honoured to work with our council to support their strategic priorities moving forward,” said Rob in the same release. “The Town of Fort Frances has a strong, committed, and innovative staff team. I am proud to work alongside and to lead as we move into the future.”

Also Monday night, council named John Burrows as Deputy Chief Building Official.

It comes more than a month after council agreed to have a consulting firm handle building and planning duties until the positions could be filled.

The jobs had been vacant for several months after former CBO/Planner Cody Vangel left to take on another position with the town.

He was been filling in on an as-needed basis until the middle of February.

Rob wants to look at the contract signed with RSM before changing Burrows’s title.

“Given the short turnaround on this meeting, I wasn’t fully versed on the terms of the RSM agreement. I do have a meeting with them middle of this week, and hopefully, we’ll have another bylaw in front of council at the next meeting to clean it all up,” says Rob.