Interim city CAO Merete Heggelund (left) attends Monday night's city council meeting in the gallery alongside Leah Prestayko, the city's cultural development director.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Familiar face Merete Heggelund is back as the top administrator at the City of Medicine Hat, but both she and elected officials stress it is a matter of “adding capacity” and not a reversal after the previous city manager left the position.
Heggelund, who retired as CAO in 2018 when Bob Nicolay took over, regains the position on March 14 and will remain until a permanent city manager is hired after Nicolay departed earlier this year.
“It’s nothing very strategic or dramatic, or long term,” Heggelund told the News after Monday night’s council meeting, which she attended as a spectator prior to the end-of-agenda announcement.
“I hope to prepare the ground, so when the new city manager is hired, they can hit the ground running and be set up for success. There’s not a lot to deliver that I can promise in the short term.”
Mayor Linnsie Clark and Coun. Shila Sharps, who heads council’s employee relations committee, both lauded the addition of Heggelund on Monday, stating she had a strong skillset and experience with the organization.
“We’ve started the (hiring) process and are very happy to have Merete here while we’re going through that,” said Clark. “We needed a CAO, and with her background it’s a good fit in (that time frame).”
Nicolay was hired as Heggelund’s replacement in late 2018, and his departure furthered rumours of tension between council and Nicolay, which persisted after last October’s election.
Council sent the slate of amendments for 2022 budget back to administration several times in late 2021, and has launched a survey of worker satisfaction at city hall.
Nicolay left his position in January, citing a desire to accelerate a planned retirement in the fall, but accepted an interim position with the City of Grande Prairie in February to help with its own search for a new city manager.
Nicolay’s handling of a move to contract out economic development and land sales last summer became a major election issue, with Clark calling for a halt to the process and incumbent mayoral candidate Ted Clugston backing the division and senior managers.
Council launched a strategic planning process last month to lay down priorities for the new four-year term.
The next two-year budget, for 2023 and 2024, will be developed this summer, likely under the incoming manager and approved in the late fall.
On the economic development front, Invest Medicine Hat and the energy division are jointly working on a carbon capture and hydrogen production attraction strategy. That will progress this winter, though no formal announcement or process run by the province may occur until later in the year.
Plans for a new heavy industrial park to draw in investment is underway but the process has become bogged down. After a three-hour discussion and public hearing with clubs nearby the site in the northwest of the city, the decision to approve initial planning documents was tabled on Monday.
A number of councillors stated they hope to see options to assuage the fears of six clubs which lease land on the far end of the land block. Several club officials said at Monday’s hearing they fear potential conflicts will mean they will loose their leases and facilities.
It will be picked up again on March 21, but it’s unclear who would lead the issue: acting city manager Rochelle Pancoast, senior officials with Invest Medicine Hat, consultants hired by the city’s land department, or Heggelund when she takes over March 14.
Heggelund, 61, had moved to Medicine Hat prior to being hired as the city’s corporate services commissioner in 2012. She remained in the city after retiring as CAO.
