Amid vocal backlash from the business community over the firing of the city’s well-respected director of business and tourism development, city manager Bill Holtby said Friday that Larry Horncastle’s departure was necessary so the city can cast a wider net in its quest to attract companies to locate in St. Albert.
Horncastle learned Monday that he’d been let go after 12 years. The explanation was that the city wanted to go in a “different direction.”
In an interview on Friday, Holtby elaborated that the city needs a different leadership style and skill set.
“Larry was very connected in the local business community. What we’re looking for is someone with exceptional contacts in a regional and national level,” Holtby said. “It needs to be someone who’s a mover and a shaker at that provincial and national level in the development community.”
Horncastle’s departure has created shockwaves among local business leaders and councillors.
Coun. Cam MacKay said he was shocked because he found Horncastle to be superb while working with him as a member of the St. Albert Economic Development Advisory Committee.
“He’s one of the few people at the city who actually lives here in town,” MacKay said.
“If you’re going to have an economic development guy, he’s going to have to spend two years getting to know the people who Larry knows.”
MacKay wonders what kind of climate Horncastle’s firing is helping create, given the city’s decision to open a Starbucks at Servus Credit Union Place and the lawsuit brought forward by Landrex Developers.
“Now we’ve fired our economic development guy who was very well-respected in the region and everywhere.
“Who are we going to find to work here in that environment, especially when we have this tag of being a tough place to do business?” MacKay wondered.
“It’s not really my place to be questioning personnel decisions, but on this one, it’s certainly not something I would have done,” he said.
Coun. Malcolm Parker agreed that it’s not council’s role to second-guess administration’s personnel decisions, but he was surprised and disappointed at Horncastle’s firing.
Like MacKay, Parker wanted to know more about the new direction that administration has in mind. He didn’t believe that city officials were losing sight of council’s priorities. These include pursuing more non-residential development and finding a location for more light industrial development.
“I’d have to say that they’ve got the message that council does want to see some non-residential development in the community to balance the tax situation,” Parker said. “If they’re not taking that seriously and we don’t see some results coming, I think council will hold administration accountable.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse interpreted the move as a change in direction for the business and tourism development department but not for the city overall. Obviously administration didn’t feel that Horncastle was the one to achieve council’s economic development priorities, he said.
“I think the proof is going to be how this shakes out over the next year or two,” Crouse said.
Local businessman Mike Howes isn’t as forgiving.
“I’m pissed off because he’s the only guy in the administration who gets it,” Howes said of Horncastle.
“We obviously are not fighting for lower taxes in St. Albert for our residents by achieving an 80-20 tax split and acquiring more industrial lands to offset those things, because Larry stood for those things and they’ve fired him.”
Council directed administration to come back before the end of the year with a report outlining how the city can site 260 to 300 hectares (642 to 741 acres) of light industrial land.
That report will be ready in time, Holtby said.
During a council discussion on that issue, Horncastle was outspoken when explaining why the city should pursue large-scale servicing of light industrial land.
Earlier this spring, his department hired an Ontario-based consulting firm to perform an analysis of the amount of land the city should set aside for light industrial development. The result, a recommendation of 700 to 900 acres, was shocking to some councillors and even drew suggestions that the study had been tailor-made to arrive at the desired conclusion.
None of these issues were a factor in the decision to part ways with Horncastle, Holtby said.
“We’re extremely committed to council’s goals associated with diversifying the tax base,” Holtby said.
