LAC LA BICHE - Administrators from Lac La Biche County are continuing their search for a Director of Economic Investments after a recently-hired director exited the position shortly after accepting the role, leaving County staff filling in the gaps until a new candidate can found.
According to Ken Van Buul, the county’s chief administrator officer and a member of the hiring committee, the previous candidate, Tom Koep, vacated the position in order to accept a similar position with another municipality that was closer to his current residence.
Koep was introduced to Lac La Biche County councillors at their May 11 meeting. Billed as an expert in commercial, industrial and municipal economic development, Koep said he and Van Buul had worked together for 10 years in Parkland County. Koep had also held economic development and tourism positions in the towns of Vegreville and Devon. During his May introduction, he said he was planning on moving to the community, but first had to sell his home. Before the end of the month, Koep accepted a different position with Lamont County that allowed him to remain at his current residence.
New project slowed
This ongoing vacancy in the Lac La Biche County administrative offices slows the process for the municipality to move forward with new and economically informed projects as well as those underway as administration takes on extra work to balance the load, Van Buul says.
One of the hopes that administration has for an incoming director will be to develop policies and partnerships that help to diversify, grow and attract new business to the region, laying the foundation for the Lac La Biche County to be an epicenter for commerce in Alberta’s northeast region.
“Becoming that regional hub is a real goal of ours,” said Van Buul. “It’s going to diversify our economy; it's going to bring more people into our communities both in Lac La Biche and Plamondon.”
Planning for the future, the local council and administration have large aspirations for the County’s vast and unique landscape and its tourism and economic opportunities.
“There is a real ability here to make it a year-round playground,” says Van Buul. “Mother Nature's blessed us with an abundance of wide-open spaces. We just have to figure out how to take advantage of it in our tourism strategy and our economic development strategy.”
Finding the right ‘fit’
Acknowleding those plans could be delayed as the municipality continues their search, Van Buul is confident that with the continuing assistance of a recruitment agency, the right “fit” for the position will soon be found.
Finding qualified candidates isn’t hard, he says, but in a challenged global economy in the midst of a global pandemic, with many other employers looking for economic development professionals, finding someone willing to relocate to the community becomes a little more difficult.
Based on trends he has noticed playing out on recruitment boards, Van Buul said, “Municipalities and the province, in general, are really putting an emphasis on economic development as we come out of our COVID pandemic — so there's lots of hiring going on.”
Attracting more than investments
When the director of economic investment is selected, they will be tasked with two main objectives; supporting the needs of the community’s current businesses and finding ways long-term to innovate and diversify the County’s economic base. Van Buul says, first and foremost attention needs to be paid to businesses that have been most heavily impacted by the global pandemic and the economic recession. The last year of the combined challenges has largely impacted travel tourism, restaurants and retailers among other industries in the region, including the oil and gas sector, which has recently begun to see a rebound in value.
“The things that these businesses have gone through have been unparalleled, at least in my lifetime,” said Van Buul. “They have been absolutely devastated over the last 15 months… It's a bit mind-boggling to even keep up with where they're at.”
Beyond rectifying the negative economic effects of COVID-19, the County is looking towards the future in creating a destination that attracts people from all over the province and country, not only to vacation, but to put down roots and set up shop.
“The more people you bring, the less people leave,” he said. “Our community has done well; we have got all these amenities. Now we need to bring the people.”
The full job description can be found here.
