The City of Estevan has announced a major shakeup at the top of its management team.
City manager Jim Puffalt was relieved of his duties Tuesday after 12 years on the job. Mayor Roy Ludwig said the vote by council was unanimous, adding there was a general sense that a change of direction was needed.
"With the new council, there comes a different perspective on how they feel the City should be run and what direction that we should be taking," Ludwig said today. "Lately they just felt that they wanted to move in a new direction so (Tuesday) afternoon Jim was notified."
Ludwig said there wasn't one particular matter or any improprieties that led to council's decision. He said on the whole "council was just not happy with the direction we were going and we just wanted a change, unfortunately for Jim.
"With the new council, everybody has their own ideas of where they want to go, where they want the City to go, so, we will be sitting down with a headhunter and going over some of the qualifications that council expects and out of that we will be moving forward."
Asked what particular qualifications might top the list, Ludwig noted that finding an experienced manager will be very important to them.
Puffalt has been with the City since 2001 when he replaced Marcel Hoste as the top administrator. Ludwig has been on council throughout Puffalt's entire tenure and admitted that the decision to make a change was not an easy one.
"This was not a decision that council took lightly and it's not one where they made a decision overnight," he said. "This has been a long process."
City treasurer Jeff Ward, who just took on that position a few months ago, will serve as the interim manager until a replacement is found. Ludwig said council will not rush any decision and the process will likely take "a few months."
For more on the story please see Wednesday's edition of The Estevan Mercury.
