After four months of searching with little success, the city has decided to change the title of the person it wants to hire to market St. Albert as a prime location for industrial development.
Instead of becoming general manager of economic development, the new person will carry the title of executive director of economic development. The rebranding was done after discussions between acting city manager Chris Jardine and incoming city manager Patrick Draper.
There will be no changes in the responsibilities of the person hired, nor will this disrupt the city's organization chart. Jardine explained it was simply a matter of trying to attract the right person and the general manager title wasn't cutting it.
“What [Draper] felt is the title of general manager does not resonate well with the industry and in most cases it is rare that there is a general manager doing what we're asking this person to do,” Jardine said. “He said in the few places that do have such a general manager, they aren't the feet-on-the-streets person we want, they're more of a policy wonk.”
Jardine decided to discuss the issue with Draper due to the lack of success the city has had finding suitable candidates, as well as Draper's own background in economic development, which includes private sector experience with companies such as Pepsi and Chiquita, as well as government experience as a deputy minister with the Ontario provincial government.
“So after talking about it, we decided we really needed to rebrand it into something that would resonate, that they would see it and look at it in more detail,” Jardine said.
Besides posting the position on the city website and using a headhunting agency, Draper has also suggested using other web resources such as LinkedIn and the International Economic Development Council.
Jardine said the executive director of economic development will still be a member of the senior leadership team and will still report directly to the city manager, but will not be expected to be grounded in St. Albert Place for weekly meetings.
“Given the expectations for the role and the need to be out on the street moving and shaking, to tell them to give up half-a-day on Tuesdays for a meeting, it doesn't make sense to tie this guy to a desk when the expectation is you are actually out there building networks,” Jardine said.
