Invest MH switches directors

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 29, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Changes are coming to the city’s Invest Medicine Hat office months after controversy arose about the process to contract out the office that handled economic development and land sales.

Citing health reasons, Jason Melhoff has stepped down as its managing director, according to a release from the city on Thursday morning. The role be taken up by Eric Van Enk.

That comes several months after the News first became aware of unconfirmed reports that the senior executive was experiencing health issues.

Melhoff, a former chamber of commerce president, was tapped to lead the new city office in March 2020, about six months after the city moved to bring economic development contract back under control of city managers.

“Jason built a strong team of subject matter experts at IMH and Mr. Van Enk is a highly skilled business and financial executive, eager to continue momentum on various initiatives,” said city manager Robert Nicolay in a statement.

Van Enk was previously the director of strategy with the department, and presented its 2021 mid-year report to council in August.

It described the recent announcement of a “Hydrogen Hub” strategy, the potential sale of the city’s fleet natural gas fuelling facility, and an analysis or tax and grant incentives to spur redevelopment or business attraction.

It concluded with the strong impression that a number of deals were in the works that may be announced this fall.

Earlier in the month, the city and officials in the Invest office came under fire for the process to solicit bids from private contractors to operate the office on a 10-year contract with two options to renew.

Administrators described it as common practice and in line with a long-stated goal of moving a reworked Invest program back to the private sector.

Critics said the largely unadvertised process that resulted in a single bid from a company set up by Invest employees was unusual and unfair.

Eventually, the bid was rescinded by Melhoff and his partners, while a report into the contracting out process done by business consulting firm Deloitte suggested the city update its code of ethics and some minor legal language in standard bid documents.

Mayor Ted Clugston stated it found no wrong doing and backed the work of the office.

During the election campaign, mayoral challenger Linnsie Clark made the bid a focal issue of her call for greater transparency in city hall operations.

After her win, she told the News the incoming city council group would discuss the office’s mandate and make decisions about its operations after strategic planning sessions later this year.

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