The City of Estevan has turned to a long-time employee of the City of Regina to fill its top administrative position.
Amber Smale was announced as the new city manager at Monday's regular meeting of council. Smale has been with the City of Regina for 22 years and most recently held the position of deputy city clerk. Smale will be officially sworn in at the Feb. 11 council meeting.
Speaking after Monday's council meeting, Mayor Roy Ludwig said the City was both excited and relieved to fill the position, which has been vacant since early October when Jim Puffalt was dismissed after 12 years.
"We are looking forward to the arrival of the new city manager, and I am sure as well our city treasurer will be relieved that some of his duties will be taken off his shoulders," said Ludwig in reference to treasurer Jeff Ward, who has been serving as interim manager since Puffalt was fired.
Touching on what it was about Smale that stood out among the field of candidates, Ludwig said council felt that she had the right combination of personality and experience for the position.
We feel that she will fit in well in the community and hopefully bring some fresh ideas from the big city," Ludwig said. "She's got a good pedigree, a good educational background and she comes highly recommended. We are looking forward to having her as part of our team."
Asked about the challenges Smale will have to tackle upon her arrival in February, Ludwig said the City's current focus is chiseling away at its debt load, which is now in the $40 million range.
"Our budgets are tight, we are continuing to comb through the budget to see what efficiencies we can gain so she will become part of that. We will be looking forward to her experience within the City and having worked with many City departments over her 22 years to perhaps give us a new look on some of the things that maybe we have missed, or some of the new ideas that we can gain (as we) strive to do a better job."
The mayor also touched on the process that went into finding a new city manager. As they mentioned in the past, the City hired a head-hunting firm that presented them, six to seven strong candidates. He added the first round of interviews were conducted over Skype and following that they shortened their list to two candidates, who both came to Estevan for in-person interviews.
"From there it was close but we decided fairly quickly. It didn't take much time (to determine) that Amber was our choice."
The Mercury was unable to reach Smale before press time. For more on the story see next week's edition.
While the hiring of Smale closes a chapter for the City, there remains the lingering question of how much it cost the taxpayers of Estevan to dismiss Puffalt.
Due to a confidentiality agreement signed between the City and Puffalt, Ludwig has been unable to comment on the matter.
However, the city manger bylaw that was in place during Puffalt's tenure indicated that the manager was entitled to one month's salary for every year in the position. According to past salary information released by the City that would put Puffalt's payout at roughly $130,000.
