With a new council comes new objectives, and one of Chestermere City council’s first orders of business was to release the City’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of three years, Bernie Morton.
According to a statement from Mayor Jeff Colvin, the decision was made as a part of a 120-day plan that he said will give Chestermere a “new direction.”
“As part of this change of direction, we will be moving forward with a change to our CAO,” Colvin said in the statement. “We thank our current CAO, Bernie Morton, for his service to our community.”
The statement said during Morton' term as the City’s CAO, his accomplishments included completing an organizational redesign, improving engagements with the development community, and the onerous task of managing Chestermere’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
“We wish Mr. Morton well in his future endeavours,” Colvin said. “Council will be moving forward with an interim CAO to assist the new council and will have further announcements shortly.”
Morton held Chestermere’s CAO position for three years, first starting in August 2018. According to a previous City press release, Morton came to the position with more than 24 years of government experience. He previously held municipal governance roles in Ontario and Saskatchewan.
“Having worked for Toronto City council for over 10 years and as a senior leader for public affairs organizations, he is known to be a strategic and results-oriented leader,” the previous release stated. “With experience as CAO for the Town of Kindersley in Saskatchewan and as a board member for the Saskatchewan Economic Development Alliance, he is bringing a municipal and economic development mindset to Chestermere.”
Harry Harker will fill in as Chestermere’s acting CAO until a permanent replacement for Morton is determined. According to his LinkedIn profile, Harker fills the role with many years of municipal governance experience, along with consulting experience.
Throughout the 1990s, Harker was the general manager of development services with the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona on Vancouver Island. In 2001, he took a position as the CAO for the Village of Cumberland in B.C., which he held for nearly two years.
Moving to Alberta in 2003, he took a position as the director of development services with Red Deer County, which led to a town manager position in High River, where he worked from 2008 to 2011.
Harker later held positions with B&A Planning Group, American Planning Association, and was an instructor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design.
Harker, Colvin, and Morton could not be reached for comment before press time.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @jaystrickz
