What does a municipal CAO do?

A Chief Administrative Officer is a municipality's senior public servant, accountable to council as a whole. The CAO manages department heads, prepares the budget for council's consideration, oversees capital projects, and provides continuity across terms of council.

Who is Lakeshore's CAO?

As of early 2026, Justin Rousseau serves as interim Chief Administrative Officer of Lakeshore. Tyson Cragg, appointed permanent CAO effective January 2025, was announced as no longer employed in February 2026.

What a CAO Does, and Lakeshore’s Leadership Timeline

Most residents could not name their Chief Administrative Officer, yet the CAO runs the municipality day to day — budgets, staff, major projects, service delivery. Council sets direction; the CAO makes it happen. Here is what the role involves and how Lakeshore’s has changed since 2024.

What does a Chief Administrative Officer do?

The CAO is the municipality’s senior public servant, accountable to council as a whole rather than to any individual member. They manage department heads, prepare the budget for council’s consideration, oversee capital projects from tender to ribbon-cutting, and carry the institutional memory of what has already been tried.

Elected officials come and go on a four-year cycle. The CAO and senior staff are what makes a municipality continuous.

Lakeshore’s recent timeline

The public record is straightforward. Longtime CAO Truper McBride departed in 2024, and Justin Rousseau served as interim CAO. In late 2024 the municipality appointed Tyson Cragg as permanent CAO, effective January 2025. In February 2026 the municipality announced that Cragg was no longer employed, and Rousseau returned as interim CAO. Lakeshore has also used interim appointments in senior financial roles during this period.

Personnel matters are among the subjects Ontario law permits a council to discuss in closed session, so the reasons behind senior departures are often not public. That is lawful and, in employment matters, frequently appropriate.

Why continuity matters

Long-term projects — a wastewater expansion, a road corridor, a growth plan — outlast any single term of council. Each leadership transition costs time in handover, and interim appointments, however capable, are asked to hold a seat rather than set a decade’s direction. Municipalities that keep strong senior staff tend to be municipalities that finish what they start.

What steady leadership looks like

Attracting and retaining experienced administrators, giving them clear direction and room to do the job, communicating transitions promptly within what employment law permits, and protecting project continuity across changes at the top.

Where Sam Sinjari stands

Sam is running to bring steady, full-time leadership to Town Hall — the kind that attracts and keeps talented staff, gives them a clear mandate, and sees Lakeshore’s long projects through to completion. (Campaign position.)

Sources: Municipality of Lakeshore news releases; CTV News Windsor and AM800 CKLW (February 2026); windsoriteDOTca and Windsor News Today (CAO appointments, 2024). No finding of unlawful conduct is asserted.