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Barratt snags top RMOW job

Cross-country search finds best candidate for administrator in RMOW's own back yard

Council has come through on one of its key promises this week by appointing a new administrator to lead the resort municipality.

And after scouring the country from coast to coast, they have chosen Whistler’s own Bill Barratt, deputy administrator these past eight months.

Barratt, who has moved up through the ranks at the hall for 25 years, was very pleased he was successful after the lengthy job interview process. His first order of business in the coming weeks is to get the new council oriented and strategize their goals for the next three years.

"I’m really optimistic about the future and I’m looking forward to working with our staff and a new council and heading towards the Olympics," said Barratt this week.

One councillor questioned the decision so close to the election in a race that will bring about major changes at the council table. Marianne Wade said she would have preferred to defer the decision to the seven new members of council who will be working with Barratt.

"My preference would have been to make a recommendation to the new council… and let them decide," she said.

Councillor Kristi Wells saw council’s role a little differently.

"(Council) felt that it was absolutely important and our responsibility to ensure that the seat wasn’t left empty and it was filled with the best person that we could find," she said.

Councillor Ken Melamed also reinforced this point, adding that council had concerns about putting off the decision, worried that a new mayor and council could unravel all the hard work the current council has done already in the selection process.

And Councillor Caroline Lamont said in retrospect she wouldn’t have been qualified to make a decision on the complex role of the administrator as a first-year councillor.

"It was appropriate," she said of council’s decision.

The administrator seat was left empty after council moved Jim Godfrey from the position to a newly-created senior position at municipal hall – executive director for the 2010 Games, Whistler. That decision was made in March, leaving the municipal staff without an official leader.

Council’s search to replace Godfrey began with help from an international search firm with offices across the country.

The first screening narrowed down the field to a dozen highly qualified candidates. Council chose three finalists from that group, including Barratt, one candidate from the private sector and another from the public sector.

In addition to the interviews, candidates were asked to give a presentation on Whistler’s sustainability plan, known as Whistler 2020.

They were also asked to meet select community members for informal chats. This allowed the three candidates to learn more about the community, should they be successful in the job interview. But it also allowed the community members to give off-the-cuff feedback to the search firm about the applicants.

In the end, Barratt was the most successful.

Councillor Gord McKeever wanted to ensure council’s decision is not perceived in the community as a movement to keep the "status quo" at the hall.

"Personally, I have serious concerns that the outcome of this job search not be interpreted as an endorsement of the status quo," he said. "I had a private meeting with Bill (after the contract was signed) where I restated my concerns, mainly a need for more effective engagement of council as a collective whole, not continuing the closed mayor-administrator tag team style that we’ve had for so many years, and more genuine engagement of the community."

McKeever said he was satisfied with Barratt’s response in that he understands the role of the administrator is to respond to the will of council.

"With a new mayor and at least four new councillors, the nature of this change is in the hands of the council," added McKeever. "Bill has the skills. Council needs to call the shots."

But the job search also raised other concerns for council, namely that Whistler isn’t Shangri-la for everyone.

"We found again, and I think many businesses in Whistler have found this to be the case, (that) although Whistler has enormous cachet and is a very desirable place to be, it’s also very challenging for many people to move here," said Melamed.

"It’s very challenging financially for many of the applicants to move to Whistler and some of the challenges in finalizing a contract relate to Whistler’s lack of affordability."

He agreed it’s amazing an individual being paid roughly $200,000 can find moving to Whistler a challenge. But with the average price of a single family home coming in at the $1 million mark, it can be difficult to justify the move.

Council has long been considering investing in its own employee housing for senior management. They are also concerned about housing for emergency services personnel.

The concern that the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the second biggest employer in town, does not have staff accommodation was raised by Wells at one of the recent all candidates meetings. And while housing is a concern, she also commented on other factors, which work against Whistler when hiring senior staff.

As examples she gave the limited job options for spouses and the needs of the whole family, such as the children.

"There are things that a big city can offer that we can’t and that affects the whole family," she said. "We have seen this in looking for senior positions over the last 10 years…. So there are some candidates that fall off the table, as qualified as they might be, just (because of) those particular facts."

As much as Barratt was up against some tough competition, he had several things working in his favour, not the least of which was his extensive knowledge of the municipal government and his passion and understanding of the Whistler 2020 document, said Melamed.

He also commands respect from staff and allows them to flourish in their professional capacity, he added.

Lamont, who worked with Barratt when she was a planner at municipal hall, has experienced this first hand.

"Bill certainly was a mentor to me in my professional development," she said, adding that staff who work below him are some of the best in the organization.

He is also ingrained in the community, which is another important factor, she said.

"He has to live and breathe his decisions whether it’s when he’s picking his kids up at school or playing a hockey game that night," added Lamont.

"Bill is the best person for the job."

Barratt said he would be looking at the organization and evaluating its structures in the weeks to come.

"I think that Bill recognizes that Whistler is at a crossroads and he realizes it isn’t the same job as what he’s been doing and I was impressed with his ability to really see how things could be different and that he could really be specific in how he would rise to the challenge," said Wells. "That impressed me."