It hasn't exactly been a state secret among City Hall insiders, but Malcolm White pretty much made it official this week.
The city's chief administrative officer has plans to step down in 2023.
White, who's served a little over 16 months as our most senior non-
Delivered with typical Whitean understatement, it seems to have slipped largely under the radar of the local press corps.
The disclosure means that not long after the next municipal election on Oct. 24, 2022, Sault Ste. Marie will have a new mayor, a new council and, if everything goes according to White's plan, a new CAO.
"Obviously you have a municipal election which will occur late in 2022," White said.
"As you head into 2023, as council is aware, you will at least have a new mayor."
"And in 2023, you will likely be going through a new CAO selection process."
"So you will want to get the new council acclimatized to the governance role. And you will certainly want to have a new CAO selected and on tap before you then prepare a future plan," White told city ccouncillors.
On Tuesday, he confirmed to SooToday that he has plans to transition out of the CAO position in 2023.
"It's been fairly well known around here that 2023 would be my last year – 35 years of service," he told us.
"It represents the natural progression point as well for a new council and mayor, once they have gotten into their new term, of going through a selection process to identify a new CAO and then develop a new strategic plan."
Armed in 1988 with a brand-new bachelor of physical and health education sheepskin from Laurentian University, White started working for the City of Sault Ste. Marie as a recreation assistant responsible for sports and events development.
After seven years in that position, he moved to the city clerk's department, where he spent 14 years as deputy city clerk and six years as city clerk, then three years as deputy chief administrative officer responsible for corporate services/city clerk.
A CAO plays a major role in establishing a municipality's organizational structure.
"CAOs can make a mayor and council look exceptionally good (or bad)," wrote David Siegel, a recently retired professor of political science at Brock University and author of Leaders in the Shadows: The Leadership Qualities of Municipal Chief Administrative Officers.
"They can be a source of great pride and motivation among the staff of the municipality (or not)."
"They can be an important conduit in the two-way flow of information between community organizations and the municipality (or not)."
"A tremendous amount hinges on how well a CAO carries out her or his responsibilities," Siegel wrote.
The corporate strategic plan that White was talking about this week covers 2020 through 2023.
It was to have been completed before now but development was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new plan places a new emphasis on the environment and reconciliation.
Key activities planned for 2021 include:
- a new fire hall
- upgrading the West End Water Treatment Plant
- developing a comprehensive delegation-of-authority bylaw
- establishing a campaign to attract remote workers to Sault Ste. Marie
- Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program
- downtown plaza
- implementing a cultural plan
- community greenhouse gas plan
- twin-pad arena
- FutureSSM implementation of youth initiatives
- community safety plan
- developing a tourism attraction product
- Bawating advisory circle
- implementation of community branding
- new official plan
- investment attraction pilot project