The City of Humboldt once again is faced with two senior staff resigning.
This time with City Manager Roy Hardy and Director of Communications and Community Development Jennifer Brooks leaving during the summer months.
Brooks has spent the last five years with the city, during which time she was a part of an ever evolving department, said a press release from the city.
Brooks was excited about combining the work of communications and community development into one department.
“The BHP Billiton Jansen mine site was developing and there really was a lot of opportunity in a sense of progress that council and administration wanted to undertake.”
Working with her department meant working with a lot of great communities and community minded organizations through her own role with many projects, like the Our Humboldt Community Plan, the Community Health Council, and regional development through working with the Mid-Sask Municipal Alliance, to name a few.
Even as Brooks moves on to return to university to pursue a Master of Public Administration with the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy starting in September, her and her family will remain in Humboldt where she will be able to keep an eye on future growth.
Brooks says she is looking forward to going back to school and the educational opportunities it will bring but it will also be bittersweet seeing it from the opposite side.
“There is a number of great individuals working for the city and working with a new council to move community inititives forward. Taking a step back from that and letting someone drive those is going to be a bit different for myself,” says Brooks.
Even though Hardy will be taking on a position with the City of Weyburn as their City Manager, he knows he is leaving the organization in a good position with everyone engaging with the Our Humboldt Community Plan and Priority Based Budgeting.
“We’ve accomplished a lot and in some ways we are getting ready for the next generation of municipal staff and administrators.”
When it comes to administration seeing progress in the city, Hardy says that senior staff are more in the know, whether it was because of Brooks in communications or other directors.
“Everyone feels that things are going in the right direction and we’re making progress. As long as things are occurring, everyone is feeling relatively good about where we’ve been.”
Building a team atmosphere around the senior leadership has been something that Hardy has been very proud of in his time in Humboldt with departments working together on projects.
“As City Manager, you want to make sure that people understand that when they’re a department head, they still not only have that responsibility for their department, they have a responsibility for working together.”
Mayor Rob Muench took part of the July 10 council meeting to publicly acknowledge the work of both Brooks and Hardy since it was going to be their last council meeting.
Muench says that with all the projects that Brooks has been a part of, including those outside the City of Humboldt office like on the Saskatchewan Economic Development Association Board, Muench says that they have appreciated her work.
“I know the city is in a better place since when you started,” Muench said of Brooks.
Hardy brought a wealth of municipal experience, says Muench, but Humboldt’s loss is Weyburn’s gain.
“I knew we were going to be setting some ground work for the future here for some of the growth that our city is going to be experiencing,” says Muench, and Hardy’s wealth of experience has shone through in the number of positive comments Muench has received regarding Hardy.
Brooks will be leaving the City of Humboldt as of July 21 and Hardy will be done working with the City of Humboldt as of Aug. 25.
