More staffing changes at Penticton city hall

PENTICTON – The City of Penticton has a new chief financial officer and a new communications officer.

Along the hirings, the city continues to look for a new chief administrative officer after Eric Sorensen announced he was stepping down from the position last month.

Jim Bauer has been hired as the new CFO, taking over from Colin Fisher, who is retiring Oct.1. Bauer was hired two months ago as the city’s internet technology consultant to deal with “pinch points” in the city’s internet structure. The study he was working on is expected to be finished later this month.

Penticton mayor Andrew Jakubeit says the Bauer is a former Alberta deputy minister and an accountant with a strong internet technology background.

“We had a year’s notice of Colin’s retirement and were looking to attract quality candidates. Jim came to our attention and also had strong skill sets to fulfill the internet technology contract, with the best price. It also gave us an opportunity to see how he would fit in with the city, sort of an unofficial trial run,” Jakubeit says.

The city has began advertising for a new CAO and the mayor says short listing is expected to begin next month with interviews to follow with the position filled in the new year.

Jakubeit says former communications officer Tina Lee received a sudden job offer from her former employer and was presented with an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. Lee had only been with the city six months.

Mark Parker is the new communications officer. He comes to the city after two years with the First West Credit Union, and prior to that, he had a communications role with Golder Associates.

Jakubeit says staff continue to fine tune the communications officer position, adding the process to hire a new engagement officer is ongoing, with a list of candidates being considered.

The mayor says he’s not concerned about the turnover of city employees over the past three years.

“We have 300 employees. There will be changes,” he says, adding the city expects a turnover rate of around 10 employees each year due to retirement, relocation or other opportunities.

“We’re tracking to be very close to that again. In general, people are transitioning their careers on a more frequent basis than, say 20 years ago. People are changing for a number of reasons nowadays.”

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