Starting Sept. 16, Westlock will have a new chief administrative officer — current High Level, Alta., CAO Dean Krause.
During a special town council meeting on July 30, councillors voted to offer Krause the position, and on Aug. 13 both sides signed the contract formalizing that decision.
Krause brings with him 18 years in municipal administration, including spending the last seven years as High Level’s CAO. He also has a background in land-use planning and development.
Westlock deputy mayor David Truckey added Krause’s 18 years in municipal administration has been spent in High Level, as he worked his way up over those years, eventually taking on the CAO’s duties.
“He was a very good candidate for the position and he comes to the town of Westlock with many, many years of experience in municipal government,” Truckey said. “We thought he was a fellow who was a hands-on person that we could look to in Westlock to be a great team leader.”
Although High Level is more isolated from neighbouring communities than Westlock is, Krause said working with other municipalities is something that is pretty much the same across the board, except for the travel time.
“Intergovernmental relationships are important up here and they’re going to be just as important down there,” he said from his High Level office. “If you live in the north long enough, you have a different perception of distance. To drive two hours to a meeting is kind of the norm.”
For Krause, taking on the Westlock CAO role is the end of a long-lasting interest in the community.
“Westlock has been a community that my wife and I have looked at for a long period of time,” he said. “It seemed a really nice community with a lot of amenities to it. We figured it would be a great place to live.”
Krause and his wife are familiar with Westlock in part because they often travel through the town en route to and from St. Albert, where their parents live, he said.
Taking over the town’s reins came up quite suddenly, he said. “Moving wasn’t on our radar this summer, but when the opportunity came open, we decided to apply.”
On Aug. 17, Krause was in Westlock to get a tour of the community and meet the town’s department directors. He also took advantage of being in town to buy a house.
