Westlock County continues its search for a new administrator to replace CAO Peter Kelly who is leaving the municipality at the end of February.
Reeve Bud Massey said the search is coming along well and that the municipality has already compiled a list of potential candidates with help from a recruitment firm.
“So far [the recruiter] has got 27 names. The search doesn’t close until Jan. 11, so the fact that we have 27 names already is fairly good,” Massey said.
“He has sent me some of the bios and they are very strong, so [we’re] very optimistic we’ll have a new and a good CAO in the future.”
Massey explained the firm is the same one the municipality used in 2014 to hire Kelly.
The reeve noted that council is seeking someone with a positive attitude to join the team at Westlock County.
“We’re more concerned of the attitude of the person as opposed to their previous experience with municipal government,” Massey said.
“We’re looking for someone who is prepared to build a team, because we’re in that process, we’ve had some dissension within Westlock County in the past.
“We also want to build a business-management model where there’s a strong emphasis on making sure the residents get the best value for their dollar, and that was one of the reasons we brought Mr. Kelly in.”
He added that in all likelihood, council would again hire from outside the region.
“Sometime it’s just good to have new blood, new people, fresh faces,” he said.
“Today, all of the applicants we have are from outside of Westlock.”
In the meantime, the reeve said the county would continue to work with Kelly before his departure on Feb. 28.
“We’re in the process of significant change,” Massey explained.
“We’re hoping to all of our policies and bylaws redone before he leaves, but that may not be possible.
“It’s a pretty ambitious undertaking.”
Among the documents the county would like to pass are the land-use bylaw (LUB) and municipal development plan (MDP) — Kelly spearheaded work on both.
Massey said the next step is to finalize public hearing dates for both the LUB and MDP prior to Kelly’s departure.
“He’s done a lot of work on that, so it would be nice to have the public in put and have that passed before he leaves,” he said.
