After nearly a year without a permanent butt in the big seat, the District of Tumbler Ridge has hired Brian Woodward as the new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
Woodward takes the reins from Aleen Torraville, the District’s Corporate Officer, who has been acting CAO since the District’s previous CAO, Jennifer Thompson.
Thompson and the District mutually parted ways last July after two years.
We sat down with Woodward a few days after he arrived in Tumbler Ridge.
“I was the administrator and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) there for almost six years,” says Woodward. “Before that I was with the District of Hope. I was the CEO there for a little over five years and I loved it but I wasn’t close enough to my children, so I moved. My children and their family live in Alberta. One of the reasons I moved to Canal Flats was so that I could visit them within five hours of travel. I’ve worked at every level of municipal government. I started off in accounting, became a village administrator then regional district administrator. I was a city manager and the city treasurer, so I have those 40 years of experience with all of that.”
Woodward left Canal Flats about five years ago, and went to work for the ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation. I worked for them almost two years. I had already worked for a First Nation before so I was experienced in First Nations programs. I had worked with the Tseshaht First Nation in Sechelt for over five years and that was a wonderful experience and so when I went to work with the ʔakisq̓nuk, it was the same thing. It was an excellent organization to work for and so I did that until two years ago, when Covid hit. That was the end of me working.”
At least, the end of working in an office for a time. Instead, he dusted off public accounting practice, and spend a couple years working on that with his wife. “My background is accounting. I have all these certificates. I’m a third year CMA level, so I do financial statements, corporate statements, and I’ve been doing that for municipalities for over 25 years. I’m very experienced in that.
“Having a financial background is a really solid thing when you become a CAO because you worked in cooperation with the CFO and having a financial background makes it easier. From a CAO perspective, I’ve been involved in municipal management and organization for years. I have a degree in public administration, a diploma in public administration, and I am a certified municipal clerk. And all of the things that I’ve done all over the years, I’ve done municipal maintenance management programs, I’ve done all of the council programs, I’ve attended UBCM with councils, I’ve attended all of these activities with councils. My number one priority, of course is council, my second priority is my staff, and my third priority of course is community, and to make sure that they all are working together.
He says one of the things he is going to do is make sure people in and around the community know what the District is doing. “One of the things that a lot of municipalities don’t do is blow their own horns. They’re not giving out a lot of information to the community and so hopefully over the next little while, I’ll develop some kind of a rapport with either the mayor or myself and have that information getting out to the community. I’ve done that for years I did that when I was in Canal Flats and I did that when I was in Hope. The public responds well to it, because you’re giving them information. You’re communicating with them and communication and community go really well together.
He says over the next few months, he’ll be going through an assessment process, determining all of the things that council needs to be thinking about and doing, and what staff needs to be doing. I’m reviewing all the policies and procedures and bylaws and so that’s a full assessment. I don’t come with a dictated program and start off with that. I come in to review what the community and municipality needs. It’s a flexible sort of approach as opposed to a prescribed approach, which can work for larger municipalities but for smaller municipalities, you want to have lots of flexibility.”
With 40 years experience, no one would blame Woodward for stepping back and retiring. Indeed, he says with a laugh, his wife asked him what he was doing going back to the day-to-day grind of municipal life. But, he says, his answer is simple. “I love municipal work. My daughter and her daughter, were thinking about moving up here. She said, ‘Dad, you should look at this job.’ I love this area. I’ve lived in Stewart. I’ve lived in GranIsle. Tumbler Ridge is part of this grid across the north. I love working for municipalities, I’m good at my job, and I work well with people in the community. So I thought, ‘This is another opportunity. I’m going to take that challenge.”
He says he’s not making any promises, but he could be here a long time. “We’ll see. It depends on the environment, my family, my community, my council, my staff. It all depends on all that.”
He says a lot of smaller communities see a high turnover in staff. “A person comes to a small town and gets a little bit of experience. In all probability they’ll work there for two or three years and then a larger municipality comes along and offers them more money in a higher position. And they’re looking at that as a stepping stone, so they leave. It’s a challenge for almost every small municipality in BC. That’s the nature of it. But that’s not my atitude at all. When I come to work for a municipality, I plan on staying as long as I can, and providing things go well.”
And things are looking good so far. “I have a good council to work with, I have good staff to work with, and I like the community. I liked the community before I even started. I went through and looked at the whole thing. My daughter and my grandchildren are just so ecstatic about coming here. So, it’ll be a family affair for me as well.”
“As the new CAO, Mr. Woodward will provide leadership and strategic direction to the team, ensuring that we continue to deliver high-quality services to the community,” says Mayor Krakowka in a release announcing Woodward’s hiring. “His expertise in finance and administration will be invaluable as we work to manage the District’s resources effectively and efficiently.”
The CAO’s job is to serve as the primary point of contact between the council or board and the local government’s staff. The municipal council delegates to the CAO the responsibility to hire individuals to fill the other officer and employee positions, and the CAO is considered council’s lone employee.
They are also responsible for the day-to-day operation of the municipality, for implementing the policies of municipal council and briefing the council on issues arising from the operation of the municipality.
“District Council welcomes Brian to the community and looks forward to working with him to fulfill the responsibilities of guiding the municipality in the years ahead,” says Krakowka.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
