New city mananger set to take helm
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 17, 2022.
Lloyd Brierley is the new City Manager.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
He believes in the approach of having a steady hand on the tiller and Lloyd Brierley is now manning that tiller as Lethbridge’s new City Manager.
Brierley previously served as the city’s Director of Infrastructure since last fall before signing a five-year contract with the city this week to replace outgoing city manager Craig Dalton who tendered his resignation last month.
Brierley will spend the next two weeks with Dalton transitioning into his new job.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen and Brierley spoke to media Wednesday morning about his appointment.
“This is an exciting opportunity to announce a new city manager,” said Hyggen.
In the past few weeks, council has met numerous times during the process to hire a manager, the mayor said.
“We’re really happy to have Mr. Brierley join the team as city manager.”
Hyggen said the focus of he and council “was a lot on finding someone that could fit into the role quickly and continue our action plan.”
Hyggen said during his last four years on council time was spent hiring city managers and dealing with COVID “which is something that I know I didn’t want to have to do over the next few years. We wanted to hit the ground running and make sure we continued the good work that’s been put in place with the action. So Mr. Brierley sat through those discussions, the strategic planning that council had earlier in the term, and has a wealth of knowledge that he has brought to those discussions.”
He said Brierley is someone who will continue the action plan moving forward.
“I’m really super excited to have Mr. Brierley as our new city manager,” the mayor added.
“I think you’ve got an absolutely excellent mayor and council. And I really look forward to working with them,” said Brierley.
The city has a strong senior management team, said Brierley, adding “Craig’s done an excellent job building a framework that we can continue with.”
He said the City has “some excellent building blocks to work on and work with here” and a great team.
“That’s what’s really important to me – this team is what it’s about. The city manager is one person; having a strong team is what matters most,” said the Saskatchewan native.
“I love Lethbridge and I’m very happy to be here so that’s key as far as life choices. For me, that’s absolutely critical.”
Brierley considers Lethbridge home and said this is where he wants to be.
“I genuinely enjoy living here and don’t have any plans on leaving.”
Brierley came to Lethbridge from the City of Toronto where he served as Manager of Fleet Services. He called Toronto a great opportunity with a massive organization that included 35,000 staff.
He’s also worked in the private sector and at the provincial level of government.
“I’ve definitely had exposure to different levels of government,” he added.
He said regional nuances are important to understand and that ties into the importance of understanding a community.
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I certainly hope he will bring a modicum of common sense to City Hall. Also hope he will take direction from council rather than dictate to council. And endeavor to tighten the purse strings to bring some relief to the beleaguered taxpayer,.