The past three months have been a “whirlwind” for new city manager Maryse Carmichael, who has spent most of her time learning about each department and how a municipality functions.
City council hired Carmichael on May 3, while she officially began on May 16.
Originally from Québec City, Carmichael is a long-time Moose Javian and a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. A former flying instructor at CFB (now 15 Wing) Moose Jaw, in 2000, she became the first female pilot with the Snowbirds.
In 2010, Carmichael became the squadron’s commanding officer, and after retiring in 2013, she held multiple leadership roles with CAE, a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies and operator of the NATO Flying Training in Canada program at 15 Wing.
The Moose Jaw Express spoke with the new city manager recently to discuss her first three months.
Enjoying the moment
“I feel very grateful to be in this position because … I get to see the city that I lived in for so many years but in a very different way,” Carmichael said.
Furthermore, she has met many people, including employees, community groups, stakeholders, politicians, business owners and others who are passionate about Moose Jaw, want to see it grow and have an influence on the municipality.
“It’s been very exciting and … a little bit of a whirlwind, but I like it like that,” she added.
Carmichael created a busy schedule when she started to help her understand what municipal administration is about, what Moose Jaw is about, and departments’ daily operations.
City hall operations
In particular, she meets with directors, managers and staff from each department each week to learn about what they do and their responsibilities.
“I don’t want to arrive here and either change everything or not change anything. I wanted to take the pulse first,” said Carmichael.
Furthermore, she wants to understand what the city is doing, where it performs well, where it needs more attention and where she can use her experience to ensure departments operate efficiently.
“So I’ve been listening a lot for the first three months (and) I’ve been asking a lot of questions as well to understand,” she continued, noting she would present her observations to council in late August and then provide her future priorities in September.
Behind the scenes
Carmichael has found that each department has something interesting to offer. For example, she visited the wastewater treatment plant and other water- and sewer-related venues to learn about those behind-the-scenes activities that residents take for granted — such as how clean drinking water is produced.
Furthermore, she learned about what parks and rec does — especially during the spring and summer — and its daily tasks to keep green spaces beautiful.
“Just to look at the (astronomical) number of sprinkler heads (roughly 10,000) that we have throughout the city. It takes the team a month to get everything running in the spring. So that’s interesting to figure out,” Carmichael added.
Communications
The city manager started a professional Facebook page in her first week — she has roughly 200 followers — to give residents a look at the “unique perspective” of her position. She regularly posts pictures of her visits with staff and the events she attends.
Furthermore, she believes the page is a great way to communicate with residents differently and to reach a different segment of the population.
“I update it (the page). It doesn’t take too, too long. It comes from the heart,” Carmichael said, adding with a laugh, “I’m struggling, though, on what to publish for the finance department.”
Inflationary pressures
One issue affecting Moose Jaw is inflation, which has driven up costs for everything from driving to grocery shopping, Carmichael said. It has also affected the cost of upgrading and replacing infrastructure.
“So that’s certainly, for me, at the top of my priorities to look at the city budget and see what we can do,” she continued.
City hall understands the pressure residents are facing but also faces similar pressure to provide a balanced budget while addressing infrastructure items and either upgrading or replacing them.
“We have to look at all the priorities … . There are some difficult decisions that will need to be made at budget time,” said Carmichael.
Inflation partly caused the city to reduce the amount of cast iron pipes it replaced this year to about 2,100 metres from 3,470 metres last year.
Carmichael believes the city can still pursue its 20-year replacement timeline even with this reduction because it can increase construction in the future. She acknowledged that while the average number of metres replaced per year has declined, it will take roughly 4,000 metres per year to replace the full 82 kilometres of cast iron pipes.
“That is certainly a decision that will need to be made in the fall as well,” she added.
A rewarding time
It’s been rewarding for Carmichael during the past three months to guide Moose Jaw at an administrative level, especially after spending eight years in the corporate world and more than a decade in the military.
“Clearly, the City of Moose Jaw and administration is not a business or the military, but there are some similarities,” she said. “For me, leading people (and) being the best partner possible to council … has been very rewarding, and I know I can make a differently by being here, supporting the various entities.”
In the next six to nine months, Carmichael’s goals include presenting the budget in the fall, giving her priorities, continuing to work with the executive team and council, pursuing ongoing projects, and growing Moose Jaw.
“I’ve had a really great time … because of the people that are here … ,” she added. “I feel really welcomed in this position, that’s for sure.”
