By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  December 3, 2011   They did it surprisingly quickly.  Your city Council with the help of an outside human resources consultant, the city of Burlington hired Jeff Fielding, the current City Manager of London, as the new City Manager of the City of Burlington.  Mr. Fielding will assume his new responsibilities on Jan. 30, 2012.

Right: Burlington's new city manager, Jeff Fielding, comes to us from London, Ontario

In the baffle gab that Mayors feel they have to write, Mayor Goldring said: “This is an important leadership role within the municipality and we are delighted to have attracted broad interest from top candidates across the country.  Jeff was selected for his deep municipal sector experience, his vision for delivering public value in the provision of municipal services and for his proven leadership in citizen-based processes and we look forward to him leading our organization.”

These are indeed all the things the Mayor and his Council wanted in a city manager and hopefully that is what we have hired.

Fielding has been the City Manager of the City of London for the past eight years.   Prior to going to London, he was the CAO of the City of Kitchener, where he was born and raised.  He has also served as an acting executive officer with the City of Calgary, where he was responsible for Protective Services, Community and Social Services, and Parks and Recreation.

Fielding is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, where he obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in urban geography and urban planning.  He began his work in municipal government in 1978.  He worked briefly in Ontario, and following his graduation, he then moved to Alberta to begin a career in regional and city planning.  Along the way he has worked in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary and Kitchener where he has held a variety of managerial and corporate positions.

Fielding certainly got around; says he “look forward to working with my new colleagues to deliver on the priorities and achieving the vision that the mayor and council have set for Burlington,”   Pretty much what you’d expect him to say.

Jeff Fielding, coming to Burlington as the city's new city manager appears to have a pretty good sense of humour. Getting his toe nails done at what looks like a fund raising event. At least we hope that's what it is.

The city had about a dozen significant applications and narrowed it down to three people, one of whom was current general manager community services, Scott Stewart. Mayor Goldring and all six members of council participated in the search process with support from Organization Consulting Limited.

In the municipal world they seem to take in each others laundry.  London, Ontario Mayor Joe Fontana, in announcing the resignation of Jeff Fielding and bidding him well on his move to Burlington added that Tim Dobbie will take over the job of city manager on an interim basis pending recruitment of a permanent City Manager. Dobbie was city manager during the MacIsaac administration and left the city for personal health reasons.   He has in the past worked for London on their ongoing review of their organizational structure.

Dobbie’s recruiting organization had bid on the contract to oversee Burlington’s search and hire for a new city manager.