NEWS FILE PHOTO The sign atop Medicine Hat City Hall seen.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The staff at Invest Medicine Hat have moved on despite a city administrator’s hope to move them inside city hall.
Earlier this month, council voted to bring the contracted-out economic development services back into city hall, including offers to retain the staff as civic employees or as consultants under contract.
It was partly described as a way to lock up the staff before the contract went out to an open bid process for renewal.
The News has learned however, that the three remaining employees have moved on to private sector opportunities.
Jon Sookocheff will join former Invest chief Ryan Jackson at Folium Biosciences – a firm lured to the Hat by the group – as head of business development in Canada.
Two other employees have also secured private sector jobs seemingly before the city’s offer was made earlier this month.
All have been previously described as contractors, rather than traditional employees of Invest, and Sookocheff noted that when work is finished, contractors are on to the next opportunity.
“Our contract expired and I accepted a position and there’s nothing more to it than that,” he told the News on Monday, adding that he sees no reason why a new Invest team and mandate led by city chief administrator Bob Nicolay shouldn’t succeed.
“It’s not rocket science and the city is in a very good position to hire the best, and they have a good plan in place, and they can execute on it,” he said.
Part of the appeal of Invest, launched four years ago and widely supported by the larger business community, was that it advertised a private sector entrepreneurial approach in the economic growth strategy of local government.
Mayor Ted Clugston said he was disappointed the staff weren’t staying on board, but that new, private sector opportunities should have been expected.
“We were obviously thrilled with the results over what was a four-and-half-year-long contract,” he told the News. “The hope was to retain that knowledge going forward. Really their success has brought them more success.”
Nicolay as well, said the work done by the group was impressive, but, now, a more-integrated approach – better linking business attraction and outreach to utility and land department decision makers – is needed.
“It’s not entirely unexpected,” he said. “It does give us a clean slate to launch Invest 2.0, and I’m excited to build a small team of exceptional people to accomplish that.”
That could be in place this fall, said Nicolay, and work is already ongoing to determine a mandate and focus for the office that he previously said will create a “full service” stop for investors and existing businesses.
Two other mainstays with the Invest office have also moved on.
Well-known local marketer and economic developer Quintin Randall has started his own consulting firm, while content manager Amanda Symynuk has accepted a position with a data-handling firm in Saskatchewan.
In 2016, ” Invest Medicine Hat” was created as a city program to attract investment and target several sectors of the economy, and run by a private sector contractor.
That was won by a consulting company of Ryan Jackson, who became general manager and the face of economic efforts.
It produced sector profiles, and sought to identify potential investors and industrial site selections and make introductions with city administrators who handle support programs.
It was considered instrumental in the process of bringing two major new plants in the city – the Aurora Cannabis greenhouse and Folium’s planned hemp oil facility.
Last spring however, Jackson sold the contract when he became the general manager of Folium.
