By Staff
August 14th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Surprising to see this advertisement.
The person a Mayor needs is someone they know well, respect and will listen to. The Chief of Staff is there in an administrative capacity as well as a strategic role.
While the title is a little on the inflated side – there are only four people in the office – it is nevertheless a critical role.
Former city manager Tim Dobbie.
In the past Burlington Mayors have had men (always men) who served them exceptionally well. Tim Dobbie worked very closely with Rob MacIsaac as City Manager – no need for a Chief of Staff Dobbie knew everything and did everything MacIssac needed.
When Cam Jackson replaced MacIssac Dobbie knew it was time to move on and set himself up as a consultant. He is never out of work.
Frank McKeown, Mayor’s Chief of Staff, attempts to fix the clock in Council Chambers.
Frank McKeown worked with Rick Goldring but left when he realized Goldring wasn’t the Mayor he had hoped he would be.
The Chief of Staff makes a Mayor look better than they are; they know the strengths and the weaknesses of the person they are working for and with.
You don’t find that person by running an advertisement.
The advertisement is no longer running – it served its purpose.
The Role of Canadian City Managers: In Their Own Words
Edited by Michael Fenn, Gordon McIntosh and David Siegel
Local government has rapidly become both more important and more complex and the quality of municipal management is becoming more significant every day as local governments deal with a vast array of organizational and community challenges.
The Role of Canadian City Managers brings together experienced city managers and municipal chief administrative officers (CAOs) across Canada to analyse the daily issues that they face. Each chapter deals with a particular issue or challenge, such as council/staff relations, collaborative initiatives, and crisis readiness. The book contributes to the literature on local government and public administration by providing insights from the “real time” lived experiences of city managers, spoken in their own words. The book also speculates about the contemporary leadership role of the city manager and the future of the city management profession.
The Role of Canadian City Managers is a useful resource for scholars and students of local government and public administration, as well as public servants who work with or aspire to leadership roles within local government.
Michael Fenn was an outstanding City Manager who went on to be a Deputy Minister in Ont Gov.He co-authored a book on the subject .
Dobbie also managed to get a street named for him.That should never happen in my opinion.