Council developing plan to find new City Manager

Hyggen remarked that Dalton has left quite the impact on the city. He said, “being on council previously and now in this new role [as Mayor], I’ve got nothing but good to say about our current City Manager.”

“During this pandemic, it’s difficult. Moving from another community and [Dalton] really hasn’t seen Lethbridge without this pandemic, and he has worked so hard, diligently, all hours…he has done an amazing job, especially when we had these KPMG reports in, working [and] navigating through them.”

He added, “there’s a lot of different initiatives that council has had over the past year, that [have] really tasked Craig with a lot of, at times challenges, I imagine, but he’s really shone and come through that.”

Dalton, meanwhile, said it was not an easy decision and leaving “comes with mixed emotions”. He could not say what his next endeavor will be but noted that he’s grateful to have been a part of the City of Lethbridge and council and gave praise to everyone he has worked with since joining the city.

“This is simply, as Mayor Hyggen mentioned, one of those life decisions that we all have to make for ourselves and our families, and not an easy one. But, I’m most off just very grateful for having the opportunity to work with some super people.”

Lethbridge’s City Manager Craig Dalton. (Lethbridge News Now)

Dalton added, “there’s been an incredible amount of work done here by a great team, across the organization.”

He noted the resilience of staff throughout the pandemic and said he was “impressed by and grateful for the hard work that folks have done through pretty challenging times.”

Dalton was preceded by Interim City Manager Jody Meli, who took over the role after the resignation of Bramwell Strain.

When asked about that turnover, Mayor Hyggen said, “each person brings a different set of values and, as far as what happens with life, and those individuals wanting to move on – our city managers.”

“That’s life and if it’s for personal reasons or other reasons [people leave], we respect those decisions.”

He added that, “at the end of the day, the City Manager is but one position in the organization. We’ve got an extremely competent senior management team as well that guides this organization.”

Hyggen said having a City Manager for a short term is not necessarily ideal, but “having new blood is not always a terrible thing.”

“It brings different, fresh ideas into the organization.”

He noted that council will look at all options in hiring a new City Manager, whether that means finding someone internally or externally.

“We definitely want to make sure we find the best person for the job, so we’ll be looking at that over the next few weeks.”

Dalton’s final date in the role of City Manager has yet to be determined, but it’s anticipated to be in March, to allow for a transitional period with his successor.

by Justin Goulet

Council developing plan to find new City Manager

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