City of Lethbridge recruiting residents to serve the community

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on July 7, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge has launched a recruitment campaign to encourage residents to get involved with City Council’s Boards, Commissions and Committees.
The recruitment campaigned is called Bring Out The Best In Our City. Applications are open now until Aug. 28 for a variety of positions.
“The recruitment focuses on bringing a multitude of residents across the city onto various advisory or advocating kind of positions, to help our city council in their decision-making process,” said Ryan Westerson, Legislative Services Manager.
He said the role for each of their boards, commissions and committees are in a volunteer capacity and those who apply and are appointed by city council, can expect to participate in various meetings of each of the bodies that they may be appointed to.
“They might be tasked by city council to work with administration on various topics, and to bring forward ideas to help council in achieving a well-balanced decision on a topic or issue at hand,” said Westerson.
He said anyone in the community who feels they have something to offer on any of the boards, police commission, Heart of Our City, Youth Advisory Council, Historical Places Advisory Committee, Subdivision Enrolment Appeal Board or the Assessment Review Board should apply.
“The skills, knowledge and attributes that they may have, will be measured against what the committee currently has and what they might need,” said Westerson.
He said that will help develop the broad-based understanding of who might be the best candidate to be appointed to that position.
“We want as many residents as possible to apply. Get out and to support the kind of work that city council is undertaking. The voice of our community is important in how council will move forward and how administration supports council in making their decisions,” said Westerson.
“We will have approximately 40 vacancies that will be upcoming this year, and we’re looking for as many applications as possible to come in to help drive a diverse and a very kind of broad representation of our community on these different bodies,” said Westerson
He said applications will be going through the selection process immediately after Aug. 28. The selection committee will review all applications and will create a short list prior to an interview process.
“It’s important to note all applications will be blinded this year, as they have been for the last two or three years. Personal identifying information on those applications will be removed and the selection committee will be making a decision based on the merits of the individuals who applied for that body,” said Westerson.
He said the selection process will be finalized at the Oct. 25 organizational meeting of city council and will be effective Jan. 1, 2023. So someone who is appointed for a two-year term on Jan. 1 2023 will be serving until the end of 2024.
For information on eligibility, length of term, meeting times and more, visit the city’s website. 

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