City CAO done in September

By Collin Gallant on April 25, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Merete Heggelund, the top administrator at Medicine Hat city hall, will retire in September, the News has learned.

In a note to staff last week, Heggelund, 57, laid out her plans and on Tuesday confirmed to the News that she plans to fully retire this fall after a new chief administrative officer is selected.

“It’s nothing dramatic and we’ll have lots of time to plan succession and recruitment,” she said. “I’ll be fully retired. It’s time.”

Heggelund joined the city as corporate services commissioner in late 2012, and was selected to replace departing CAO Ray Barnard in early 2014.

Having previously worked in the private sector with Statoil and several other energy firms, she was considered a good fit.

Since then the city combined the municipal and energy division operations, moving energy exploration directly under the CAO’s purview, but reporting to the utility committee.

Last week council approved further changes in an emergent item that delineated responsibilities for the energy division to the utilities commissioner.

Beyond that, the city responded to a major flood in 2013, installed a new budget process to make up for low energy profits, launched a new strategic plan for the gas exploration unit, and built a number of major projects, including the Canalta Centre and two firehalls.

“It’s been a busy six years,” she said. “I came to the city with a time frame of five years, maybe. That’s what I promised Ray (Barnard) at the time and it’ll be six years in September.

“I wanted to get through (the fall) election, get council in place, orientation and strategic planning.

“That’s well established, and it’s time for me to think about the next stage of life.”

Administrators are working on the 2019-2022 city budget and a new long-term capital plan that will be due early next year, but won’t be finalized until later this year when a new chief administrator takes over, said Heggelund.

“We have a number of good leaders here,” she said. “The rest of the executive team will be in a good position on (the budget).”

Council members have credited her management style over the years, saying she brought business-like decision-making to the position.

Last fall during a controversial debate on changes to the transit system, she offered to resign after council voted to reverse changes.

Heggelund said at the time it was an indictment of the work she and other administrators had done to cut costs.

Eventually though, she stayed in the position and oversaw the system returned to previous operations, and stressed on Tuesday her decision to retire wasn’t a response to any particular issue.

“It’s a normal course of business that council makes decisions and we implement,” said Heggelund. “They may or may not be in accordance with the staff recommendations always … but there’s full confidence in that process.

“This retirement has been a long time coming for me.”

Heggelund moved to the city from Calgary when she was originally hired, though she and her husband have long owned property in the Cypress Hills.

She plans to keep Medicine Hat as home, but spend additional time in the countryside as well as travel to visit her grandchildren, who live in her native country of Norway.

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