BOYLE – The man now-formerly known as the Division 9 councillor for Athabasca County, has taken on a new role as chief administrative officer of the Village of Boyle.
Warren Griffin submitted his resignation to Athabasca County July 5 and started as the village’s new CAO July 7 as councillors met for their regular meeting that evening.
Mayor Colin Derko started the meeting with welcoming words for Griffin, and thanked both interim CAO Robert Jorgensen, and Charlie Ashbey who stepped away from the CAO position due to medical issues in 2019. Coincidently, Ashbey is also a former councillor who represented Athabasca County.
“I wanted to pass a big thank you on to Robert for stepping up and leading us through the last year and a half or so, and filling in for Charlie. And I can't thank Charlie enough for his years of service and we've had the pleasure of working with him for a few years,” said Derko. “Charlie was the gem, and we're really going to miss him and we want to wish him well in his retirement ... he's doing well. So, with that, I could not be more proud to welcome our new CAO Warren Griffin. We are looking forward to a long bright future — no pressure here Warren.”
“I consider it a tremendous opportunity to be here,” Griffin told council. “I'm looking forward to a long and productive relationship with this community and I'm excited to get to work.”
Griffin, who was just shy of completing his second, four-year term on county council, has been taking courses in local government administration for the last four years through the University of Alberta, finishing up Level 2 of his National Advanced Certificate in Local Authority Administration in June.
Getting into government administration wasn’t necessarily the plan when he initially let his name stand for council, he said in an interview July 8, but a little prodding from colleagues who recognized it was something that would suit him well, gave him the push to start exploring the option.
“They could see that in me where I wasn't so sure, but they kept encouraging me, and then I started taking my courses. And once you start, you keep plugging away,” said Griffin. “So now I've done the time, so let's try to walk the walk. Right?”
While his experience on the other side of the council table will surely be beneficial, he recognizes he still has a lot to learn in the new position.
“I found that through taking the courses, it actually made me a better counselor; it made me more knowledgeable … I felt it benefited me in my in my previous job as a councillor and I hope others see it as I did a reasonable job,” he said. “Now, there's a lot on the administrative side here that I've got to learn. That's a huge learning curve. I knew that going into it and I’m absolutely seeing it here in early days, but I do have the understanding of how much is involved in local government, how much we do and all the pieces and how they have to work together in order to provide services and do what municipalities do.”
It wasn’t easy to leave Athabasca County, he said, commending his colleagues on council, administration and staff.
“I think we worked pretty well together for a common purpose — it has been a good group. I don't have a lot of low spots in the eight years I've been on council there,” said Griffin. “To the people of Athabasca County and particularly the people of Division 9, it has been an honour and privilege and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think we got a lot done and I do think the county is in a better place today than it was when I walked in eight years ago … I thank them for the opportunity to be their representative and I wish my successor after the election all the best and Athabasca County council all the best moving forward.”
