ATHABASCA – After five-and-a-half months, Athabasca County has found the man that will lead its administrative team in the full-time CAO position.
In an Aug. 23 announcement, Athabasca County shared that it was hiring Robert “Bob” Beck as its new chief administrative officer (CAO), following a special sitting of council held Aug. 22. Councillors voted 8-1 in favour of a motion to appoint Beck, with Coun. Gary Cromwell opposed.
“Council engaged in the CAO recruitment to secure an individual who will put into action the direction set through the strategic plan,” said reeve Brian Hall in the press release. “In our vetting and interview phases, it was evident that Bob’s background and experience will be an asset to the county.”
Beck, who offically starts Oct. 2, says he’s “the embodiment of the guy who started in the mail room and worked his way up,” kickstarted his career with the City of Edmonton in 1990 in the planning department. In 1992, he moved to the City of Kelowna as a development planner. From there he went over to Yellowhead County in 1997 as its director of planning, and then the City of Fort Saskatchewan in 2007 as the general manager of planning and strategic initiatives. In 2009 Beck took his first job as a CAO with Beaver County, before joining the Town of Edson as the general manager of community and protective services in 2021.
“I’ve got a good mix of urban and rural experience, my background is mostly in planning and development, but I really worked my way up from a couple of different places until I made the jump into senior management,” said Beck.
When it comes to applying his experience, Beck believes it’s about “seeing the big picture.
“As a senior leader, you have to see that bigger picture for what council and the residents are trying to achieve,” he said in an Aug. 24 interview. “There’s a big picture to every community, the direction they want to move in and it’s administrations job to take council’s action and turn it into tactics to move their objectives forward.”
Upon Beck’s arrival, interim CAO Pat Vincent will work with him for a period of five weeks to assist with the transition process. Hall thanked Vincent for his work, which started April 3 after the departure of Christopher Parker.
“I would like to thank Mr. Vincent for accepting the interim CAO role during this time of transition. Drawing on his 50-plus years of municipal service, he sets an example for other CAOs to aspire to,” said the reeve. “He has been an asset to the County, and his leadership over the past many months is greatly appreciated.”
Hall was unable to provide an exact salary number for the incoming CAO due to Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) concerns but he was able to confirm that a survey had been undertaken of the surrounding municipalities, and that Beck’s compensation was “competitive and within the market range” in an Aug. 25 e-mail.
How we got here
Following the departure of CAO Ryan Maier in June 2021, the position was filled on interim basis by then-agriculture and community services manager Dawn Phillips until the hiring of Rod Risling in early 2022 — Phillips ultimately left the county in the late 2022 to become CAO of the Town of Smoky Lake.
Following Risling’s seven-week tenure, Frank Coutney, who has over 30 years of municipal government experience, including 28 years as CAO for the County of Wetaskiwin, took over on an interim basis until Parker was installed as the permanent CAO.
Incidentally, Maier became Athabasca County CAO in August 2014 after spending two years in the same role with the Town of Athabasca and has served as the permanent CAO of Thorhild County since Jan. 1, 2022 — Maier was initially appointed as Thorhild’s interim CAO starting Aug. 5, 2021, with a fixed-term contract that ended Dec. 31, 2021.
