BARRHEAD - Colin Steffes is ready to take on the next challenge as the Town of Barrhead's newly hired chief administrative officer (CAO).
Steffes joined the municipality in late November, filling the vacant position after Edward LeBlanc's retirement. He came from Westlock County, where he served as the general manager of planning and community services.
Steffes grew up on an acreage in Sturgeon County.
"Kind of a prairie-urban farm kid. My first jobs were on dairy farms," he said. "It is where I developed my work ethic."
Steffes started his private sector career by working 10 years as a project manager overseeing various land development and construction initiatives.
"I realized that one of the things I enjoyed the most about my job was the planning side, the conceptual, upfront piece, but often, by the time I to it on the private side, a lot of that picture had been established," he said.
In 2007, an opportunity presented itself to work with Sturgeon County as a senior development officer when the municipality started seeing an influx of energy, fertilizers, power, and petrochemical companies as part of Alberta's Industrial Heartlands.
Steffes said his work predominantly focused on planning and economic development for the first seven or eight years, with "some engineering" thrown into the mix.
"However, in the last several years, in senior management, it has blossomed into community services and government affairs. Those types of things," he said.
For most of the last 18 years, Steffes was with Sturgeon County, but more recently, he was with Lamont and Westlock County.
He joined the latter when he followed CAO Tony Kulbisky, who he knew through the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board.
"I was pretty active on the board and got to know Tony quite well as a peer, and I was ready for a change. I knew we would work well together," Steffes said.
While with Westlock County, Steffes received a call from Jim Davies of DCG Executive Search Services, the headhunting firm the Town of Barrhead employed, who asked him if he was ready for the "big chair" and CAO.
After thinking about it, Steffes said yes, adding that after 18 years in municipal government, it may have been overdue.
Although he said that his long municipal career in municipal government prepared him to take over the reins as the town's top employee, he did note there are differences between rural communities,
Specifically, he highlighted the significance of recreation and social services provided by agencies such as Barrhead and District Family Community Support Services (FCSS).
But he noted that there are a lot of similarities, and his time with Sturgeon County helped prepare him for.
"I call Sturgeon County a perri-urban," he said.
Perri-urbanization relates to scattered and dispersive urban growth processes that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics.
"I've done a lot of negotiations [representing Sturgeon County as part of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board] with the cities of Edmonton and St. Albert on behalf of the interface with the county talking about high-density and peri-urban development, and while there are different engineering standards, the process of land development and the finances behind it is the same principle," Steffes said.
Looking to Barrhead's future
Coming into the position, council and administration told Steffes that the municipality was in good shape but had a real appetite for growth but that a lack of available housing constrained it.
"[There is a need] for more affordable residential and housing alternatives in the market, whether for new families or those wishing to age in place," he said, adding the municipality is reviewing multiple projects which could help, at least somewhat, relieve the housing crunch.
Steffes said the municipality is working with interested developers who are looking to invest in the community.
However, he said, the developers hit a few obstacles, most notably concerns from Alberta Transportation, which the town is helping them work through.
If things go as Steffes predicts, and the municipality can provide the province with information about the traffic impact the completed projects will have, they will move forward.
First impressions
Steffes said even though he has only been the CAO for Barrhead for a short time, he has been impressed by the cooperative and collaborative spirit shown by residents.
"I was lucky enough to participate in my first Polar Parade, and seeing the level of vibrancy and participation from the community was wonderful," he said. "What I love about my job is that it is about orchestration and helping people get where they are going. It is about helping people leverage our strengths in the community; with the leadership we have on council and the administration team, that's compelling enough. So, seeing a community with this vibrancy and heartbeat as a strong foundation makes it very exciting to see what the next step will be."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
