Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens believes Jen Knights will bring stability, strong leadership and will pull the team together at Windsor Public Library.
Knights was named permanent chief executive officer for the public library earlier this month.
She will also continue her role overseeing the culture portfolio for the city.
Speaking on AM800's 'Mornings with Mike & Meg', Dilkens feels the moves were done with the best purposes in mind for the city and says Knights is the best candidate.
"At the end of the day what we need in these CEO positions are people we can demonstrate solid leadership and that's what Jen brings to the table," says Dilkens. "So it will be stability, strong leadership, pulling the team together and making sure all the pieces work and the operation works at the Windsor Public Library."
He says with respect to the culture portfolio, there are still some combined elements with her library role.
"We operate a museum, we operate archives at the library so there are integrations here which makes sense from an operations prospective," he says. "It's also a chance to look at our budget and say are we spending the taxpayer money wisely because don't forget almost entirely all of the budget of the Windsor Public Library comes from property taxes."
Dilkens says Knights will take direction from the library board.
"The library board unanimously approved hiring Jen, once they did that I amended the org structure to make sure there was a culture component there that would naturally tie in but any decisions related to library operations, she reports squarely to the library board," says Dilkens.
Last week, CUPE Local 2067 president Katie Vlanich who represents city library workers felt there were issues with the hiring process that saw Knights appointed to the position.
Vlanich told AM800, based on the Public Library Act, the CEO of the library is not allowed to have a "dual reporting structure", and that the CEO has to be an independent entity from the municipality.
She said the appointment is a violation of the Act.
Windsor Public Library has had four interim CEO's since mid-2023.
As part of the strong mayor powers granted by the province under the Municipal Act, Dilkens announced several duties and portfolio responsibilities were being adjusted - including Knights.