Merete Heggelund will step down as the interim city manager, it was announced on Monday night, about three months after the former city manager was named to the post while the search for a permanent manager was sought. Pictured centred, she listens to a presentation by Shortgrass Library System CEO Petra Mauerhoff.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Two senior officials are exiting city hall only months after they were hired to take over vacant positions.
Merete Heggelund, a former city manager who came out of retirement to replace Bob Nicolay as the city’s top administrator, is stepping away due to have more free time in retirement, according to a statement read out at Monday’s council meeting.
Eric Van Enk, who ran the city’s economic development department, is also resigning after taking over the Invest Medicine Hat office last fall, and there are some indications more change could be coming to Invest Medicine Hat.
Mayor Linnsie Clark framed the personnel changes as a chance to reset administrative pieces early in a term and just as council’s new strategic plan was released on Monday.
“A lot of organizations coming out of COVID are in a state of transition, and with a council that changed as much as this one did, we’re excited to move forward and really bring life to our new strategic plan,” she told reporters.
After campaigning on harsh criticism of how the Invest office operated during the last council term, Clark on Monday didn’t expand on Van Enk’s exit, but gave strong support for the current work, led in part by Van Enk, to create hydrogen and carbon capture hubs in the area.
Of the economic development office – which issued a press release quoting another top-city manager on Monday – Clark said “more should be coming forward in the next couple weeks.”
Council will hold a special meeting next Monday to determine how the chief administrator position will be filled.
Heggelund told the News that she originally agreed to a three-month contract as interim city manager, and that time frame is up on June 14.
“I agreed to a three-month contract and that time is up,” said Heggelund, who also sits as a part-time commissioner with the Alberta Utilities Commission.
She is returning to that work, plus a more relaxed schedule, she said.
Coun. Allison Knodel made the point of privilege announcement, thanking Heggelund.
She rejoined the city in March, having retired as top administrator in late 2018, after former city manager Nicolay resigned in late January.
He stated it was part of a prearranged plan to retire in 2022, though he became the interim city manager in Grande Prairie weeks later.
That came after senior officials were grilled by incoming council members and Clark about the 2022 city budget. At the same time, Medicine Hat city council created a new “Council Employee Committee” to create a review process for the city manager.
He had direct oversight of Invest, which became a lightning rod in the 2021 election, during a controversy about contracting out the service and city land sales.
That process was suspended in the summer, and shortly thereafter Invest head Jason Melhoff resigned citing health reasons.
More recently, Clark and most of council have been vocal boosters of the effort to bolster local hydrogen production, led by Van Enk and the city’s utility department.
Veteran city councillor Robert Dumanowski said turnover happens in a large organization.
“It brings opportunity and we’ll be looking to replace them with people of equal calibre or stronger,” said Dumanowski. “We have a new council and a lot of new ideas and approaches and now we’re moving forward.”
Van Enk originally worked for the city as a remote consultant to help develop its new reserve and dividend policy for its business units. That was implemented in 2020, and Van Enk then became a manager with the Invest Medicine Hat last fall.
Announcing his departure, Coun. Cassi Hider said Van Enk’s role to create economic activity during the pandemic, and a time when city gas wells were being wound down, was “challenging times.”
But, she said, Van Enk’s “innovated mindset” had served the city well, including the spearheading of a hydrogen hub study due this summer.
“There’s been significant progress and good news to come,” said Hider.
