ST. PAUL - Engaging and fulfilling is how Kim Heyman sums up her time as the Town of St. Paul’s CAO. She is wrapping up the last couple of weeks working alongside the community’s new CAO Steven Jeffery, while packing up her belongings before heading west to enjoy retirement.
Heyman joined the Town as its senior bureaucrat in early 2018 assuming the role just months after the October 2017 municipal election, which saw a new mayor and a largely new council elected. The election came on the heels of several years of ongoing changes within administration and she said right off the bat she knew there was work to be to done to right the ship and set a new course.
“There were some challenges with the administration before, certainly from a staff perspective. Staff was very uptight and not very trusting and so we had to forge a whole new relationship which probably could have been a lot more difficult, but I think they wanted some security and peace and a lot of the people that are here have been here for a very long time.
It took a little bit to earn some trust, Heyman admits, but she is very proud of the team the Town has.
“I believe we have the right combination of folks with a common vision who care about their community. I like to think we have created an atmosphere where they know their input and creativity is valued and their hard work is appreciated,” Heyman said, adding, “It’s not very often you get to come to work every day and work with people who you would choose to see socially because you genuinely like and admire them.”
Heyman together with a new council inherited a few challenges including the annual threat of spring flooding to residential areas in the southwest part of town which came to a head in the spring of 2018. Significant run-off that year started to back water up onto the golf course, flooded the street, the walking trail and threatened adjacent residential property as a result of the natural watercourse flowing into Upper Therien Lake being blocked by the property owner to the south.
While, initially Alberta Environment “came at us as the perpetrator” Heyman said the provincial department ended up being supportive of the Town’s position. Unable to resolve the situation with the landowner, the Town eventually had to move to expropriate the land occupied by the watercourse, and that area is now in the Town’s name and the natural watercourse has been restored.
Heyman admits it was a lengthy process but necessary in order to finally bring resolution to the issue.
“We had to be very consistent with what our goal was, to be as respectful to the landowner as we possibly could be, but we had to look out for the welfare of the town. We had been mandated by Environment to get this storm water management in place. Although the plan isn’t finished, because it has taken so long to get this issue taken care of, they are now in a position where they can pull that together.”
Prior to coming to the Town of St. Paul, Heyman was the advocacy and communication director for the Rural Municipalities Association (RMA) and before that the CAO at the County of St. Paul for six and a half years, so she came into the role with a solid background in rural administration and a clear understanding of the Municipal Government Act.
“From an administration perspective we have been very lucky to work with a council that is very clear on their role as policy makers and, for the most part, have stayed out of administration and if they have stumbled into it, it's by accident because there are lots of areas where they cross over,” she said. “We have always been able to clarify those roles and it’s worked really well. I don't think there’s many administrators that can say we were really lucky to have a council that has been so clear on their roles,” Heyman said of the St. Paul council.
“We have a mayor thank goodness who is very clear on her governance role and her standard line is ‘not my monkey.' I do like to remind her that it is her zoo, though.”
Asked about the challenges facing St. Paul going forward, Heyman admits there are a few with the main one being a lack of funding.
“There will never be enough money to do what needs to be done. The costs of maintaining infrastructure are huge and it’s the underground infrastructure that is always the challenge because people can’t see that. It’s not sexy, it’s not interesting because it’s your water and sewer pipes but those have to be maintained.”
The Town is still dealing with clay pipes and galvanized fittings and all those things that need to come out. It’s an expensive process to replace underground pipes but necessary to keep the town running.
“You’ve got to keep that system working because the whole town relies on it.”
The fact that the Town’s commercial and industrial tax base for its population is less than similar communities the same size is a concern now and will be going into the future.
“We would certainly like to grow our commercial tax base and one of the reasons we are doing an area structure plan with the County (of St. Paul) is to designate that area at the east of town (east of Sec. Hwy. 881) as industrial/commercial and hopefully develop more of an industrial park.”
Heyman said setting up collaborative agreements and working partnerships with adjacent municipalities is the way of the future for rural areas and believes the Town and its immediate neighbours, including the County and Town of Elk Point, are tracking in the right direction on that front.
“We have an intermunicipal collaboration framework agreement, which in itself houses many joint agreements, we have a credible recreation agreement and we are currently working on a joint area structure plan. I think these examples speak to the willingness and forward thinking of both councils to recognize the fact that the world has changed and we can’t exist in our own little bubbles anymore,” Heyman said of the positive relationship that has developed between the Town and County.
“One of the challenges of trying to administer a community is that your governing body could change. I think that we’re going to see some stability, I hope we’re going to see some stability in our council, but the fact is you never know. So, you can do four years' worth of work and get a while new council come in and totally change direction and all that work can be put on hold or be for naught. So, that’s always a challenge to try and develop in such a way that if you’ve got new leadership, it would give them some room to initiate their own plans, to pivot a little bit.”
With St. Paul residents headed to the polls in October, time will tell. As for Heyman, she will be settling into a new life on the B.C. coast.
During the Aug. 23 regular Town of St. Paul council meeting, Mayor Maureen Miller took a moment to thank Heyman for all the work she's done since joining the Town.
"I would like to thank you for your years of service," said Miller, noting, Heyman had some big things on her plate while working with the municipality, along with working through elections and a pandemic.
Miller described working with Heyman as a "gift," and acknowledged her integrity and focus on creating a safe community.
"We are truly grateful," said Miller.
*With files from Janice Huser
