This week’s announcement that Guy Boston will be changing hats at city hall to become executive director of economic development was, to say the least, a surprise.
His critics were shocked, wondering how, after spending 10 months searching far and wide, using a head-hunting firm, changing the position’s title and doing a second search … the city ended up giving the job to its general manager of planning and engineering.
This engineer, the critics point out, hardly fits the description of a jet-setting, smooth-talking salesman who would travel the world and bring all kinds of new business to the city. And he’s an engineer from the very department that’s often blamed for putting up roadblocks to economic development rather than encouraging and welcoming new business.
However, Boston’s supporters quickly jumped to his defence, saying he’s an ideal person for the position and brings many strengths to the job. They say he’s approachable, open-minded and persuasive. And he knows the community.
Who is right remains to be seen.
The new tandem of Boston and recently-hired city manager Patrick Draper might just be the one-two punch St. Albert needs to sell itself to businesses across the country and around the world. Will they work together as well as Batman and Robin, or Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Or will they discover they’re like fire and ice or water and gasoline?
Perhaps the two can build the cohesive, smooth functioning team in administration that the city will need to attract new businesses.
Shirley Fine Lee, author-consultant-facilitator, says to build a great business team all members must share leadership responsibility and rotating roles as needed, all have to participate in idea generation, problem solving and decision making, all have to support, respect and trust each other, and all members have to manage conflicts by confronting issues and inappropriate behaviours.
In other words, Draper and Boston are the captains but they need everyone in their departments – plus city council – on board and rowing in the same direction.
Having such a team is vital to the future economic development of St. Albert. While there is a segment of the population that would like to keep the city as a quiet little bedroom community, that could ultimately lead to being surrounded and eventually absorbed by Edmonton.
To be sustainable as an independent, thriving city of its own, St. Albert has to have a strong economic development department that can attract the businesses needed to provide enough of a tax base to keep the city progressing.
Let’s remember that economic development doesn’t just mean business attraction and industrial growth, it’s also home building and job creation, essential to keep our younger population living here. It’s only economic development if it brings outside money into the community.
While more coffee shops and niche stores are nice and may attract St. Albertans to downtown, selling snacks or gifts to each other is not economic development and is not going to keep the city moving forward. That’s why the Walmarts and Home Depots and Costcos are important – they bring in outside money.
That’s the challenge facing the Draper-Boston duo: build a cohesive team that will attract economic development and show the leadership that can keep the city moving forward.
It will be interesting in the months ahead to see how well they do in attracting economic development under the conflicting ideas from individual councillors and citizens on how they want the city to grow.
