A new focus on economic development, which the city announced Wednesday, prompted cheers from one of St. Albert's most prominent business leaders, as did the Tuesday firing of long-time chief administrative officer Bill Holtby.
City council fired Holtby Tuesday morning. Councillors held a private meeting Tuesday evening and Mayor Nolan Crouse announced a host of other organizational changes Wednesday.
As of Oct. 8, community and protective services general manager Chris Jardine will fill the role of interim chief administrative officer in addition to his current duties. Crouse said he would meet with Jardine Thursday to discuss his new role.
The city is creating a new division with a focus on economic development and will recruit a new general manager to head it up. Previously, business and tourism development was one of several departments overseen by the general manager of business and strategic services, a position held by Jennifer Jennax.
Creating a new division for economic development is meant to send a clear message to the world that St. Albert is serious about economic development, said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
"We've been talking about this for a long time and it's time for us to put our money where our mouth is," he said.
This is great news, said Ivan Mayer, president of the Riel Business Park Association, as it will help draw more business to St. Albert.
"We've got to hit that 80:20 tax split," he said, referring to the ratio of residential and commercial tax assessment. It's long been a goal in St. Albert to reach an 80:20 ratio. It now sits at 89:11.
Praise
Regarding Holtby, during his 10 years as the city's top administrator, he led St. Albert through a period of tremendous growth, said former councillor Lorie Garritty. This period saw the construction of projects such as the Enjoy Centre, Riel Recreation Park, Servus Credit Union Place and Ray Gibbon Drive.
These were controversial projects and Holtby took the brunt of the criticism for them, Garritty said.
"It's one of those jobs where you get few accolades and get the grief from everyone else's mistakes," he said.
Holtby first took the chair as city manager under then-mayor Richard Plain, who had high praise for his service.
"Think of all the things that have been developed in St. Albert in the last 10 years," Plain said, emphasizing that Holtby and the team he put together had a hand in them all.
"His legacy is reflected in project after completed project," Plain said.
Holtby always gave council good advice, Garritty said, even if it wasn't the advice council wanted to hear, and always accepted council's decisions.
"I've never seen him complain," Garritty said.
He said he was shocked to hear of Holtby's dismissal and was sorry to see him go.
And criticism
Mayer, in contrast, seemed glad to see Holtby gone.
"Bill's time had come," he said. "I just don't think he was supporting the push for economic development as much as he could have."
Mayer criticized Holtby for putting up roadblocks in the way of development.
"Every time we wanted to acquire more land for industrial purposes … it seemed that administration headed by Bill Holtby was saying we don't need it," he said.
He also recalled Holtby advising council to oppose a request by Triple Five Corp. last year to service land north of St. Albert because it was leapfrog development. (Council later approved the request.)
"Here's a big company [that] owns West Edmonton Mall wanting to develop a whole area of land in St. Albert and we have our chief administrative officer planning against it," Mayer said.
But the straw that broke the camel's back was likely Larry Horncastle, Mayer said, referring to the former director of business and tourism development who was fired last month with Holtby's approval. Many business owners were big fans of Horncastle, and were upset that he'd been dismissed. There was a lot of agreement amongst business leaders at a tribute to Horncastle last week that something should be done about St. Albert's city manager, he said.
Horncastle might not have been the sole reason for Holtby's departure, Mayer said, but it certainly stirred the pot.
"What goes around comes around," he said.
Coun. Cathy Heron has previously said that there was no connection between Holtby's and Horncastle's departures.
