Though balancing her two roles as mayor of St. Albert and president of Alberta Municipalities has been a major time commitment, Cathy Heron says she is already seeing benefits for St. Albert.
Heron was elected to the two-year term position as president of Alberta Municipalities — formerly known as the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) — in November, after she served as vice-president for cities up to a population of 500,000 for more than five years.
Speaking Tuesday morning, Heron said she had left a meeting with a search firm for St. Albert’s next chief administrative officer (CAO), a position the City has been looking to fill since former CAO Kevin Scoble resigned at the end of 2021.
Heron said the position has seen an influx of candidates, and argued her provincial visibility has been a boon in attracting applicants, though noted it is not the only factor.
“On the provincial level, people see St. Albert as a really forward-thinking, stable, progressive placed to live,” Heron said. “I think those are huge benefits.”
Heron also said her position has allowed her better access to provincial ministers, citing a relationship with Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney as one example.
“We talk all the time, and that’s only because I’m the president of Alberta Municipalities,” Heron said. “I don’t think she would give her name and number to the mayor of St. Albert.”
Juggling two hats could lead to tough decisions: professor
Chaldeans Mensah, an associate professor of political science at MacEwan University, argued that Heron could be faced with tough decisions while balancing her two roles. He said this is especially the case given rising pressures between the provincial government and local authorities, which create a wider demand for advocacy on the part of Alberta Municipalities.
In the past couple weeks, Heron has been vocal in speaking out against the Alberta government's push to override local authority on masking and COVID-19 vaccine bylaws by amending the Municipal Government Act through Bill 4.
“She’ll have to be very careful to manage those two hats,” Mensah said. “Sometimes there might be issues that are favourable for St. Albert, but could be problematic for other municipalities or the group as a whole.”
Heron said she hasn’t yet come across an issue that has made her feel tension between her two roles, though she said she has had to become more attuned to issues smaller municipalities are facing, such as limited capacity to generate revenue.
“You learn from all different realities and different perspectives,” Heron said. “In many ways, I could call that a benefit.”
Former Town of Morinville mayor Lisa Holmes served as Alberta Municipalities president from 2015 to 2017. Holmes, who is currently serving as chief of staff to Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, said the opportunities of taking on the dual role outweighed the challenges.
“I got to discuss my positions with ministers, and have conversations with other mayors that really elevated the issues and concerns facing Morinville,” Holmes said. “It allowed me to enter into more arenas, and was a really good use of time.”
When asked if Morinville’s interests were ever at odds with Alberta Municipalities as a whole, Holmes said there were times when she entered into conversations that "weren’t things that would have been elevated as a concern in Morinville.”
“That being said, the majority of the work of Alberta Municipalities is on issues that affect every single urban municipality,” Holmes said, noting that issues she was speaking to as president, including the budget, the infrastructure deficit, or cannabis legalization, often ended up impacting Morinville down the road.
“Sometimes it may not seem relevant, but you could be having conversations that will trickle down, or in the future have positive impacts,” Holmes said.
Time commitment
When St. Albert city council nominated Heron to run for Alberta Municipalities president, Coun. Sheena Hughes voiced concerns around the time commitment that accompanies the role. Hughes referenced Holmes’s presidential term, arguing Morinville residents were “not happy” with how much time the position took up.
Holmes said she hadn’t heard the same critiques.
“I don’t consider that to be true,” Holmes said. “There was definitely less time available with me, but being the mayor of a municipality, you rely on others, your council, and your deputy mayor anyways.”
Similarly, Heron noted council’s support has been essential as she manages her roles.
“That’s why a council motion to say that they will back you and support it is part of the process,” Heron said.
Heron said she has taken on an additional role as the Alberta Municipalities representative for the province’s Emergency Medical Services advisory committee, which will also throw “a lot of work” onto her plate, but she said the commitment is short term, and will be over by July.
When she ran for president, Heron said she knew she “would be overwhelmed.”
“You’ve got to have the energy and the knowledge that you’re going to be busy and the passion for the work,” Heron said. “It’s obviously a passion of mine, so when you get up every morning, you get to do something that you love. You’re energized.”
