New directions, new visions.
It’s often a dangerous path to venture down when such vague phrases as “we’re going in a new direction” or “looking forward to a new vision” are offered as reasons for firing key personnel. We speak of course of St. Albert’s former city manager Bill Holtby and former director of business and tourism development Larry Horncastle, who both lost their jobs recently.
When Horncastle was fired the explanation from administration was the city was headed in a new direction. When Holtby followed him out the door, council spoke of a new vision.
Which leads to the question: Just where is St. Albert headed and who is at the controls? Of course, administratively it might be chaos at city hall for some time after all the re-organizing of duties and departments that council implemented this week.
Between all the duty changes and the new recruitment and “role definition” teams, one must wonder just how much council work councillors will be doing in the coming months.
Council denied that their decision to fire Holtby had anything to do with the Horncastle firing but that’s hard to fathom given the outpouring of support for Horncastle and all the criticism council took for allowing the firing. Not that council could, legally, have done anything about the firing. Except what they did – fire Holtby and move Jennax.
It looks on the surface that it took the firing of a hugely-popular employee to make council aware that there were differences between council’s and administration’s directions. If that’s the case, then perhaps the problem isn’t in administration but in the chambers.
So now they move forward, either in the new direction of which administration spoke when firing Horncastle, or towards the new vision council mentioned when dismissing Holtby.
It would be nice, for existing local businesses, for potential new businesses and perhaps especially for local taxpayers who are fed up with some of the highest property taxes in the province, to know just what vision council has in mind this time around.
Creating a new division devoted to economic development is a good step, but only if council and administration both agree the city needs more industrial development, and both are willing to work towards that goal.
The recent Future Industrial Land Requirements Study spelled out what the city needs to move forward in attracting new businesses. It’s time council accepted the report’s recommendations and made it clear to outside businesses that they are welcome to move in here.
Mayor Nolan Crouse took one big positive step when he said council was taking a stand with the formation of the new economic development division.
“We wanted to take a stand and send a strong message that the economic development profile is [now] higher,” Crouse said. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and it’s time for us to put our money where our mouth is.”
Isn’t that the truth, we can hear taxpayers saying. It’s long overdue for the city to get aggressive in seeking new industrial development to offset the high residential tax levels.
And business reacted positively as well. Gilles Prefontaine, chair of the St. Albert Economic Development Advisory Committee, said it’s an excellent move that “brings the importance of economic development back front and centre.”
Making the department head a general manager puts him or her at the table when future plans are laid out and shows “the city of St. Albert views economic development as an important priority — that we’re not going to be a sleepy little suburb.”
Now that the mayor has indicated council wants to pursue more light industrial development, let’s take it one step further. For the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for council’s big-ticket spending over the last decade — Ray Gibbon Drive, Servus Credit Union Place, the St. Albert Steel — it’s time Crouse spelled out in detail just exactly what this new vision is.
At least then we’ll know what direction he’s trying to take the city and citizens can let him know in the next election whether or not they agree.
