Town pulls new CAO out of The Hat

Medicine Hat’s loss is Turner Valley’s gain after Town council hired the city’s parks and recreation manager to lead its administration.

Turner Valley received more than 60 applications responding to its request for a chief administrative officer (CAO) to replace Barry Williamson, who served as the Town’s CAO for three years before retiring in early January.

Town council narrowed its choices, selected by an Edmonton consulting company, from 15 to four before unanimously agreeing to hire Todd Sharpe for the position, said Mayor Gary Rowntree.

Sharpe will begin his duties on May 14.

“Council feels that he is the right fit to lead us at the administrative level,” Rowntree said. “When looking at what is different between all four, what stood out was his overall experience, managing a larger staff, as well as the budget that he’s responsible for.”

Sharpe has extensive municipal experience as Medicine Hat’s parks and recreation manager with responsibilities that include maintaining a budget of over $24 million and leading the operations of a large department consisting of facilities and more than 200 staff.

An ad hoc committee comprised of Rowntree, three Turner Valley councillors and interim CAO Heather Thomson led the selection process.

Rowntree said the committee was impressed with Sharpe’s experience being in charge of numerous facilities and a budget five times larger than that of the Town of Turner Valley. Sharpe also received a great recommendation from the City of Medicine Hat.

Earlier this year, the Town had paid $25,000 for third-party professional human resources company Human Edge, which specializes in municipal senior management recruitment, to oversee the hiring process.

Thomson said the Town has previously used outside sources, such as human resources services from nearby Foothills communities, to assist with the process. However, council decided to take a different route this year.

“We thought that that was the most transparent and fair way to go forward with hiring a CAO,” said Thomson of the third-party company. “I think it was regarded more as public perception that it would be better to do it professionally. They have more experience with municipal hiring.”

Thomson said she is pleased with the process the Town and council used to hire Sharpe.

“Council and all of management was able to participate throughout the process so council had their wish list and management was asked questions about what they would like to see in a strong CAO before the position was advertised,” she said.

Among the criteria for the position was experience in municipal government and management, which Sharpe met easily, Thomson said.

Like council, Thomson agrees Sharpe is the best candidate for the job.

“I’m really pleased with their decision,” she said. “I think he’s going to do a great job for the Town.”

Sharpe’s start date isn’t for another month.

“Council tried to get him here earlier but he just couldn’t,” Thomson said. “Council was willing to wait because they felt that he was the best one.”