Change is inevitable, and the City of Estevan has seen its fair share in the past year. As part of a wave of new faces and minds at City Hall, Estevan's newest addition is the head of the public works office.
Peter Kennedy has been on the job as public works manager for a couple of weeks and brings with him a cultural mix of Irish and Canadian along with years of private-sector experience. But Kennedy is just one of a varied collection of new people working for Energy City ratepayers.
The City has seen some significant turnaround, with prominent municipal positions welcoming new faces, chief among those being Amber Smale, City manager, and Jeff Ward, City treasurer, along with Kennedy now stepping in as public works manager.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said all of that change makes it an exciting time, with the City's future being carved by a new set of hands.
"We're very excited with the fact that we do have, right now, a changing of the guard. It's exciting for the City with the younger people coming on and their thought processes, their new ideas, suggestions and thoughts on where to take the city," said Ludwig. "It's quite exciting really. I'm quite happy with the way things are turning out with the fact that we do have a lot of renewal going on right now. We're looking at that as positive change. It's quite refreshing, actually."
That changing of the guard also includes Estevan Police Services Chief Paul Ladouceur, and now a search for Estevan's next Fire Rescue Services chief, following Ron Tocker's decision to retire this September. Even elected City representatives in council, through a fall 2013 byelection, have a new face in Coun. Trevor Knibbs.
Ludwig said the City isn't quite finished bringing in new faces, as the search is also on for a new parks manager with Gloria Johnson retiring soon.
Kennedy is replacing outgoing public works manager Bruce Balcom, who resigned earlier this spring after nearly two years with the City. Kennedy comes to Estevan via Calgary, where he worked for seven years.
Kennedy was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and spent a decade growing up in Ontario before going back to Ireland through his teen years.
"I've been toing and froing between Ireland and Canada for most of my life," he said in an interview last week.
Between his higher national diploma and his degree, both in civil engineering, he spent 10 months in Sudbury on an internship. He returned once again to the Emerald Isle before coming back to Canada in 2007. There he worked for consultant engineering firms.
He said aside from a few minor but key differences, his public sector work in the Energy City will be very similar to his prior experience.
"I suppose the job might require on more occasions than what I was previously used to, more urgent responses. Working for consultants and contractors, the work for the most part is planned," said Kennedy. "To a large degree in public works, you are responding to the citizens, and very often the response, when it's watermain breaks, it's an instant response. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to."
He noted there were some aspects of Estevan's current infrastructure that have a growing need of replacement.
"I've seen some of the sidewalks around the City, and I'm conscious of the fact there are parts of the city where the footpaths are in very bad condition, whether that is a result of settlement or frost heave or because of tree roots that have caused a section of the sidewalk to lift."
Much of his time has been spent getting acquainted with the condition of infrastructure across the city, and thus far, he has pointed to watermains, roads and drainage as some of the areas in greatest need of attention.
"I can see, having been about 10 days in Estevan, I can see there are some substantial challenges ahead, not only with existing infrastructure and particularly with watermains, but with roads and drainage, there's a lot to do here."
That work, he said, will include more than simply updating areas that have fallen into some state of disrepair but also the need to build in order to meet the future needs of residents old and new.
"I think Estevan will see substantial growth over the next 20 years, so not only do we need to repair some of the past infrastructure but going forward we need to set some new benchmarks so we're minimizing rework and carrying out work in a cost-efficient manner," he said. "Do it once, and do it right. I've already had discussions with people here in the office. I'm a taxpayer, and I like to see tax money spent properly, so I'm in a good position where I can see it from both perspectives.
"We're trying to prioritize and organize, get City forces focusing on where their attention needs to be and providing them with the resources that they require to execute their duties in a safe fashion," said Kennedy, noting safety is a primary consideration for City employees as well as ways to improve resident safety with improved signage or street lighting.
"There is a lack of infrastructure in some places, simple things like wheelchair ramps, road markings. Suffice it to say, there's a lot of work to be done."
