It’s a well-used joke that Bill Holtby was the longest-serving mayor St. Albert never elected. During his 10 years on the job as city manager he earned his share of accolades and produced a list of accomplishments that includes the Red Willow Park trail system, one of the largest recreation centres in Western Canada, and expanding the city’s boundaries by one-third. But with that much time on the scene he’s also earned his share of detractors, too.
When things went wrong, Holtby took as much heat as elected officials. He was the reason St. Albert homeowners pay through the nose in property taxes. He was the reason St. Albert remains a bedroom community with little industry. He was the reason stuff took so long to happen at city hall. He was the reason Servus Credit Union Place and several other big-ticket projects bled red ink. Heck, he was probably at fault for the St. Albert Steel never making the playoffs.
That kind of criticism, fair or not, comes with the territory of being the top dog, especially one who’s survived his share of controversies. While councillors fell victim at the polls to hot-button issues like the west bypass alignment, annexation and more recently Arlington Drive, Holtby managed to stay on the right side of public opinion where it mattered — inside council chambers. He provided counsel that was straightforward, diplomatic on occasion, and apologetic when necessary (like the Servus Place deficit). He showed a remarkable ability to temper council’s goals and expectations with what was realistic for the corporation (or as some would argue, his own agenda). Under less hands-on councils, this relationship was fodder for criticisms that it was in fact Holtby who had more power over policy than council.
In the end, it was this skepticism about who actually held the reins that cost Holtby his job and taxpayers untold dollars in severance. Despite council protestations to the contrary, there’s an obvious link between Holtby’s exit and his differing stance on economic development — including the firing of long-time economic development director Larry Horncastle. The loss of such a popular figure caught the public and council by surprise and the timing had an odour, coming a few weeks after Horncastle supported a study calling for vastly more industrial land to fuel St. Albert’s economy. When the uproar wouldn’t settle, Holtby and the other person responsible for the firing, Jennifer Jennax, tried to douse the flames by speaking to this newspaper’s editorial board — a rather unusual step for non-elected officials. Councillors did not come to their employee’s defence, and in fact by that point had already begun the process of his ousting.
Council’s next move — creating a new division devoted to economic development — is as much an admission that St. Albert was on the wrong path as it is a message about who in fact calls the shots at city hall. The new division includes many of the departments that used to fall under Jennax but with a narrower focus on business and the economy (Jennax, who has worked closely with Holtby for years, has been shuttled to another area). It was a bold move that caught everyone’s attention, but the question remains, where to from here? Since the 2007 annexation, the public has had its fill of promises about non-residential growth somewhere in the northwest. With Holtby gone, council has placed greater onus on itself to make that happen. And that’s how it should be. Council chambers is where the buck stops, and possibly where the next axe will fall.
Bryan Alary is a former Gazette city hall reporter and editor.
