Penticton interim CAO responds to the call of the north

PENTICTON – The city’s present interim CAO appears to be following closely in the footsteps of the city manager he replaced.

Departing City of Penticton Interim Chief Administrative Officer Chuck Loewen is leaving the warm, sunny beaches of Penticton for the Regional Recreation Corporation of Wood Buffalo in northern Alberta, where he will take on the position of Regional General Manager, Operations.

Loewen will be joining former Penticton CAO Annette Antoniak at Wood Buffalo, where she took on the chief administrator’s job following her departure from Penticton in February this year.

Loewen revealed his future plans in an open letter sent to the city and local media outlets today, June 9. Loewen says he had been deluged with questions about his future plans following the surprise announcement of his resignation from the city last week. He says he held off making an announcement at the behest of his future employer.

“I thank each and every person that I have come in contact with and will always remember the positive aspects of my time with City of Penticton. I specifically wished to thank the mayors and members of council for their support over the past four years and all the management and staff support I have been afforded in my most recent few months as interim CAO and over the past years with the city,” Loewen says in the letter.

The city is still in the process of trying to hire a new chief administrative officer.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.