By Pepper Parr
July 28th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
There are five working days before Curt Benson takes on the role of Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Burlington.
Curt Benson: Commissioner of Development and Growth Management
He will hold that title and all the work that goes with it until the day before the new council is sworn in October of 2026
The new council, the one that gets elected in October of 2026 will decide who the next CAO will be.
Benson will continue to be the Commissioner of Development and Growth Management – the most important of the three Commissioners the city has.
Curt Benson is a decent human being. He served as the head of planning at the Regional level. When Regional planning devolved to the municipalities. Burlington was fortunate enough to hire Benson.
He does a superb job – it’s a big job – major developments are in various stages of development; funding from the federal and provincial levels has to be managed – no small task, I might add.
The work load Benson has been handed (Yes, he did accept it) will be brutal. The time to think through the decisions just may not be available to the man. He is fortunate in that he has some grade A people in the planning department.
We wish Benson well and hope that he manages to get some personal time.
There has been no explanation from City Hall on why appointing a CAO for a short period of time was chosen – rather than begin the process of advertising and selecting a new CAO.
Is one of the reasons that the city might have a problem attracting someone with the experience and skills that are needed? There aren’t that many really good administrators out there and Burlington’s reputation as a great place to work isn’t what it was when Hassaan Basit was hired.
Hassaan Basit
I personally don’t understand why a professional enters into a five-year contract and walks away from it 16 months later because a nicer job came along. The reasons given don’t pass my smell test. Personal, family or health matters would justify a decision like that.
During Basit’s final council meeting July 15th, Basit and Mayor Meed Ward couldn’t say enough about how much they enjoyed working with each other.
The current Council is so tight-lipped that none of them chose to make comments about their working relationship with the outgoing CAO.
Not healthy signs.
Of course the mayor would pick someone she already knows will do what she wants. She goes through CAOs like COB goes through taxpayer dollars.
I see she’s calling the OLT “undemocratic”. But strong mayor powers? Nope, they’re fine. Incredible what she can justify now that she’s the one with all the power.
I have come to understand it is the Mayor and the Mayor alone who could decide who will be hired or appointed for the position of CAO.
As mentioned in your article having to vet someone new for this position would be time consuming and by appointing someone from within the City it means that our Mayor knows who she will be dealing with and there will be no surprises.
I think this was the path taken and the reasons for the contract ending with the next Municipal election will be explained as “council didn’t want to tie the hands of the next council”.
As for heaping praise on the outgoing CAO. What else could our mayor say? I have to wonder if this early departure came as a big surprise?
Mr. Basit, in his new position may have to be working with the City of Burlington and Council, and is intelligent to know how to keep the lines of communication open.