Sarnia councillors are saying due diligence was done in the hiring of the city's new CAO.
Brian White and Terry Burrell are both expressing confidence in council's decision to hire Christopher Carter as chief administrative officer.
Carter was fired last December as Niagara Region's general manager, along with three other managers, after a new acting chief administrative officer was appointed.
The St. Catharines Standard has since reported that Carter is suing the region for $850,000 in a wrongful dismissal claim.
Councillor Brian White is confident they made a good choice.
"Certainly through the interview process I think anybody's first move would be to google, and certainly he passed the google test," said White. "We all understand that things happen and there are always many sides to every story and we had a frank conversation through the interview process about these things, and are certainly more than confident that Mr. Carter is the right person for the job."
White said council received glowing references for Carter from various people with a lot of weight in the administrative world.
"I think once everyone in the community gets to know Mr. Carter they will find him to be a dynamic professional and courteous human being. His magnetism is going to make him a rock star in the municipal sector whether he's in Sarnia or somewhere else, so we're extremely happy that he chose Sarnia."
Councillor Terry Burrell said council was certainly aware Carter had been let go in Niagara.
"He was involved with some stuff there that seemed to be more political than anything else," said Burrell. "He was just doing his job and got caught in the crossfire, so I don't see where he did anything that I would classify as disqualifying him from doing what he's doing here, he seemed to be doing as directed and doing the best he could for his community."
Burrell said recorded votes aren't taken in closed meetings, and he's not allowed to disclose how councillors voted on the hiring, but he said obviously Carter had the support of the majority of council.
-With files from Dave Dentinger