ST. PAUL – The County of St. Paul is looking for a new chief administrative officer.
Sheila Kitz, CAO for the County, will be retiring at the end of the year. One of the biggest reasons she’s decided to head into retirement include life-altering events, such as Kitz’ cancer diagnosis back in 2018.
“And going through all the treatments, I’m just looking to have a different pace of life, because this job is very much 24/7,” said Kitz. As someone who gives her 200 per cent on the job, “I don’t have a very good work-life balance,” she admits.
Very rarely does Kitz find herself home before 6 p.m., and when at home, “I’ve got 100 emails that I haven’t looked at.”
When asked if there may be some tips that she could provide the new CAO, whoever that may be, Kitz says it is important that they understand how things are currently operating before making any changes, which is how she approached the job when she first became the County’s CAO over 14 years ago.
"I spent a lot of time analyzing how things worked,” she says.
When municipalities change their CAO, it’s not often due to retirement, but because a municipal council may be unhappy and want to move in a different direction, said Kitz.
Because of this, a new CAO may need to make big and immediate changes based on the direction a municipal council wants to go. This can cause turmoil. For Kitz, however, it’s different, because “I’m not leaving with any anger."
So ultimately, how things will operate administratively will depend on the new CAO.
Kitz has been with the County for 14 and a half years, a time way above the average tenure of a CAO in Alberta.
According to a study presented during the 2023 Alberta Municipalities Convention, the average tenure of a CAO in the province is usually below one term for council, which is four years in Alberta.
Sometimes, this is due to a difficult working relationship between the CAO and the municipal council. But for Kitz, “I have always been blessed with a really decent council to work with.”
While Kitz is not involved with the recruitment process for the new CAO, she is aware that County council is looking for someone with a good understanding of municipal operations, from accounting to road construction and utilities.
“I don’t have detailed knowledge of all that,” but enough knowledge of all those areas to understand how they connect, and how they play into budget. Laughing, she added that for example, she understands way more about water and sewer than she ever thought she would.
Kitz noted that there will be changes within the County of St. Paul’s administrative staff soon, noting several staff members are also retiring at the end of the year. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.
“There’s an opportunity for things to be done differently. In fact... we’re currently looking at some new technology,” she said, and “I’m like – holy smokes – it seems like a terrible time to be leaving because it’s exciting to have new things.”
“But you know what? I’ve made my decision and I’m really excited,” said Kitz, adding she hopes to do more volunteer work as she settles into retirement. “I used to be a big volunteer in the community when my kids were young,” but she hasn’t had much opportunity to volunteer in the past 14 years.
While a little worried about retirement, especially shifting from a “crazy pace” to a slower one, Kitz is excited about working on herself, her health and her wellness.
She thanked past and present County councils, adding that her job is to provide council with information, and council’s job is to make the difficult decisions.
“I really like our current council. They work really well together,” said Kitz.
Kitz also thanked all County staff she’s worked alongside, from those who work in the offices, to the directors and the custodians, and those who work out on the roads.
"I work with and for the employees. And we all try to do the best we can to provide services to the residents of the County,” said Kitz.
While emotional of her retirement, Kitz acknowledges, “It has been a really good career.”
