Former police chief Andy McGrogan is excited to come into council as part of a team, as opposed to being its outright leader.--NEWS PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Andy McGrogan says campaigning for a seat on city council gave him a new perspective on Medicine Hat, the community he helped police for 40 years before retiring as police chief late last year.
Now, he says, that after 12 years as a senior-most administrator with the city, he will have to learn how to function in a new position.
“As chief I usually had that power to make the last decision on some things, but with council it is going to a collaborative process,” he told the News this week.
“It’s definitely a different role than what I’m used to and I’ll have to be mindful of that – trying to stay on the leadership side of the house, rather than as an administrator.
“I’m looking forward to that, being part of a team, rather than leading the team. It’ll be great fun and a great challenge.”
The 62-year-old will be the oldest member of a city council that will be sworn in on Nov. 1. The group is largely new to government and largely ran on campaigns of transparent government or modernizing operations and communications strategy.
Led by incoming mayor Linnsie Clark, 41, the council will need to approve a budget amendment this year, a new four-year budget next year, and also act on a coming recreation master-plan and industrial attraction strategy.
“There was great work started by the previous council, and it’ll be up to us to see where we take it from here,” said McGrogan. “We’re going to have to deal with some very, very big things.”
The nine elected representatives have held introductory meetings and next week will undergo and orientation process with each city division to discuss issues and operations. Course training in local government process in also required by Alberta Municipal Affairs.
As police chief McGrogan was responsible for developing and implementing the service’s annual budget, which at $20 million is the largest single area of the city’s total municipal budget.
However, McGrogan has said he would stay largely out of operational matters, but believes he could provide perspective to council’s understanding in tackling the issue of downtown safety.
“The police will work on their plan for safety, but the city has a bigger role related to safety as well,” he said.
He has also publicly stated he would also decline a roll on the police commission saying his presence might confuse governance structure or undermine the authority of his replacement as chief.
