After four years as the Town of Westlock’s chief administrative officer, Dean Krause is moving to the Rocky Mountains when he takes over as CAO of Rocky Mountain House in January.
The Town of Rocky Mountain House announced Krause’s appointment Dec. 12 in a press release and stated he would assume his role there Jan. 22.
“It wasn’t a planned change by any means,” Krause said. “We’d seen the opportunity, my wife and I. We’re avid outdoors people, we like backpacking and hiking, and just said that would be an interesting place to live. We looked into it a little bit more and it looked attractive, so I threw my resume in.”
The hire was a rapid-fire situation as headhunters scouted Krause and setup a Dec. 4 interview. He received an offer Dec. 5 and finalized the agreement Dec. 8. He tendered his resignation Dec. 11, while his last day at the town is Jan. 19.
“I did pretty extensive research into the community before applying because you want to make sure it’s a good fit all the way around,” he said.
“It’s a very progressive community. They have a lot of regional agreements with their surrounding county. It’s very progressive, so that’s always appealing to a CAO because you can achieve a lot.”
Rocky Mountain House already has in place shared service agreements for recreation and an intermunicipal development plan with Clearwater County. Krause noted that he could bring a lot of regional co-operation experience from Westlock and High Level to the table.
“I have quite a bit of experience in working with First Nations from up in High Level and that’s one of the items to be worked out down there, is creating agreements with First Nations and working with them,” he said.
Krause joined the town August 2013 and prior to that was CAO of the Town of High Level for seven years, working his way up from development and safety codes officer to director of community and development services and finally CAO.
With over 20 years of experience and almost four and a half in Westlock, Krause said he was able to accomplish many things through teamwork.
One achievement he highlighted was helping local community groups get back on their feet, like the Westlock Child Care Society and the Westlock and District Community Hall.
The town’s financial situation also improved immensely over the last four years.
“When I first came, we didn’t really have a financial capability to do much,” he said. “Through granting and a little shifting here and there ... we’re in good financial position and we are undertaking major infrastructure projects for the community. We did Southview, we did the service road this year. It also looks like the water tower is going to be off the ground here shortly. So that’s important to the community for all that infrastructure to be upgraded to carry the town into the future.”
Krause was also instrumental in organizing the regional collaboration study this past year, which developed a collaborative framework and document for municipalities in the region.
“In some sense, I’m sad to leave because that was going to be exciting and good for the region,” he said. “I wanted to be part of that, but that’s an important achievement by the municipalities and the councils.”
On the personal side he said the hardest part will be saying goodbye to staff and councillors after working closely with them over the years.
“They’re a great bunch of people. Staff are completely devoted to the town and work to make it a better community all the time. I’ll definitely miss the staff and their dedication, and council’s dedication to this community and how well we worked together as a team.”
He said he would also miss Westlock and, taking a cue from a Grant MacEwan professor who he worked with on a budgeting pilot, described Westlock as “a quaint town that’s very vibrant.
“He was totally impressed and that’s my exact opinion, too,” Krause added.
The loss is especially difficult for Mayor Ralph Leriger and council.
“I’ll be straight up with you, we’re very disappointed to lose Dean,” Leriger said. “He’s a solid administrator and he’s advanced our municipality significantly. It’s with reluctance and regret that we accept it, but that’s the reality of it. We certainly wish him and his wife Linda all the best in their future.”
However, Leriger said he wasn’t surprised by the move as he knew the day would come when Krause would take on a new challenge in a larger community with a bigger budget.
“That’s what happens with good people,” he said. “I’d hope to get a few more years out of him, but it’s more about when opportunities present themselves.”
On a positive note, he said Krause leaves the community in better shape than when he came, both financially and administratively, and will be handing over a solid foundation to the next CAO.
“Maybe even more importantly, he leaves with a very strong team in place.
“His leadership style of delegating responsibility to his directors and empowering his staff leaves us with a strong competent team.”
He also assured residents that business at the town will continue as usual.
The search for a new hire is already underway and Leriger has gotten some sound advice from mayors in larger centres — make sure that whomever you hire is the right fit.
“Leadership styles need to fit council’s vision, but they also need to fit our organizational culture,” he said. “So council takes a step back and looks at where do we want to be in five to 10 years and what skill sets in an administrator do we need in order to see that future come to fruition.”
