Jake Rudolph, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Nanaimo, BC was elected President of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) during the association’s annual general meeting, held virtually on June 2, 2020.   He is a CAMA Representative for British Columbia and most recently served as First Vice-President for the Association. He succeeds Jeff Renaud, CAO for the Town of St. Stephen, NB in leading the 650-member national organization of senior municipal management professionals, for the coming year.

“I am honoured to serve CAMA as President in this unprecedented time,” said Rudolph. “This year has brought some unique challenges for municipalities across Canada and will continue to call for innovative thinking and flexibility into 2021. I look forward to working with the Board and CAMA staff to ensure that our members continue to have access to quality services and resources which will allow them to excel, even in the face of a global pandemic.”

Jake has a professional career which spans 38 years including over 30 years in management positions across the country. For the past 22 years Jake has resided in British Columbia where he currently serves as Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Nanaimo. Previously Jake has served as Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Pitt Meadows, Deputy CAO with the Cities of Abbotsford and Fredericton and General Manager of Development Services and Public Works with the City of Maple Ridge.

Throughout his career, Jake has taken an active role in his profession and his community serving on various committees and boards.  As a member of CAMA, he has been a member of the Awards Committee on two occasions and also the Chair and served on an Election Process Review Committee a number of years ago. He has been on the CAMA Board since 2014; Chaired the Strategic Plan Review Committee; and served on the Conference Committee and the Code of Conduct Committee. Over the past year, Jake has chaired the CAO Employment Contract Toolkit Committee.  Jake is a life-long learner with a Master’s Degree in Planning, an MBA and has completed the Harvard Executive Leadership Program.

Two new members were also elected to the CAMA Board of Directors: Jamie Paik, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Langham, SK was elected Board Representative for Manitoba and Saskatchewan; and Gary Kent, the Commissioner of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer of the City of Mississauga, ON was elected as a Member-at-Large for a Municipality of over 100,000.    The 2020-2021 CAMA Board of Directors includes:

• Jake Rudolph, President, British Columbia
• Jack Benzaquen, First Vice-President, Québec
• Cory Bellmore, Second Vice-President, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
• Beverly Hendry, Treasurer, Member-At-Large
• Jeff Renaud, Past President
• Tony Kulbisky, Alberta
• Dawn Chaplin, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Brenda Orchard, Ontario
• Marc Melanson, New Brunswick
• Mike Dolter, Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island
• Jamie Paik, Manitoba & Saskatchewan
• Gary Kent, Member At Large for a Municipality with a Population Over 100,000

Joni Delaurier, City of Calgary, AB

Joni Delaurier, a Communications Team Supervisor at the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) with the City of Calgary used her musical talent to produce a song called One Day Soon. Joni recorded this uplifting song in her home studio in hopes that it would bring Calgary some joy and comfort with the current coronavirus health crisis.  On her first days off after the initial State of Local Emergency, Joni found herself - guitar in hand - reflecting on the things we’re all missing out on and have previously taken for granted. “I wanted to write something that would cheer me up, to remind my friends that one day we will get back to normal,” she said. “We all need something a little less heavy to look forward to.”   Joni shared her song with Chief Tom Sampson at CEMA. “When I first heard this song, it really struck me,” said Sampson. “In the flurry of my day-to-day work, pausing for a couple of minutes and taking in the song and imagery, had me realize just how much we’ve all been missing out on since this all started. It wasn’t until that moment that I fully realized just how hard this has been on us all, and how much we’ve missed out on over the last few months.”  Delaurier moonlights as an award-winning songwriter and accomplished singer on the country/roots music scene. She has been nominated in the past for Single of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards, among other accolades.  Delaurier, along with the talented creative folks from The City of Calgary’s Customer Service and Communications business unit created a video to share with Calgarians. The creation of the video was very much a team effort and Delaurier said that the opportunity to work on something a little lighter, fun and uplifting was a highlight for the team.  When words fail, music speaks. At least that’s what The City felt when it pooled its internal creative talents to give back to Calgarians for all they have done to limit the spread of COVID-19. The One Day Soon project aims to lift Calgarians' spirits.  Watch One Day Soon here!  Delaurier will post the song on streaming platforms and will donate any proceeds from streaming revenues to the United Way of Calgary’s COVID-19 Community Response fund, funds which will stay in Calgary for Calgarians.

Regional District of Nanaimo - Transit Team

CAMA developed the three-step CAO Performance Evaluation Toolkit.  CAMA’s Toolkit is designed to be a system that is flexible for the CAO, Mayor and Council.  It offers a variety of ways to choose goals, set competencies, conduct your self-assessment, and have ongoing performance evaluation conversations.  For CAOs, the toolkit provides a process that uses strategies and templates that can be shared with the Mayor and Council to ensure goals, key results, core competencies, and performance measures are mutually understood.  For Mayor and Council, the Toolkit underscores the value of CAO performance conversations, and offers a process for conducting the performance evaluations fairly.

• To access the Performance Evaluation Toolkit click here. This toolkit is also provided in the Inuktut language.
• The Quick Reference Guide is also a great executive summary of the process.

CAMA is pleased to support our 2020 Conference Exhibitors and Sponsors. Below is a listing of free webinars and on-line resources offered to all CAMA members.  Feel free to forward to your staff.

WEBINARS

ON LINE RESOURCES