After eight years as chief administrative officer (CAO), Mike Furey is preparing to take on a new role with the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW).
Furey's new title will be chief of strategic policy and partnership, under which he will be tasked with "accelerating strategic initiatives, policy development and furthering RMOW relationships with regional, provincial, federal and First Nations partners," according to a release.
The recruiting process for a new CAO is now underway.
In his new role, Furey will report to the new CAO, while providing leadership to the RMOW's economic development department, which is primarily responsible for project management and initiatives related to the resort economy, housing and strategic planning.
Furey's new role will also help in the transition of the new CAO, and will end in early 2021.
"This agreement gives the RMOW the capacity we need to deliver on the opportunity to provide a strong transition to a new CAO," said Mayor Jack Crompton.
"Mike is a content expert on the files that he will carry forward ... this arrangement allows the RMOW to move those projects forward effectively."
Some of the projects in question, Crompton said, are the outcomes of the Official Community Plan (OCP) and its agreements with First Nations, the Strategic Planning Committee process and outcomes, and the Economic Partnership Initiative.
While creation of the new role amounts to a new senior management position at municipal hall, Crompton said the RMOW will be getting good value for its money, and noted that there will not be an ongoing payroll impact past 2020 (Furey was the RMOW's top earner last year, with a total remuneration of $246,043. He will carry on in the same terms as his current contract).
"Mike's work to secure $22 million of provincial [Resort Municipality Initiative] funding is just one example of what gives me confidence that we'll get good value for our money," Crompton said. "Although there is a cost in 2020, this is a short-term position without an ongoing payroll impact."
Asked how the arrangement came about—whether Furey proposed it or council asked him to stay on—an RMOW spokesperson said the decision was a mutual one.
"Ongoing discussions between the CAO and council have brought to light the opportunity to increase focus on council's ambitious work plan," they said.
As for the hiring process, and whether the position needed to be advertised, the RMOW said the new job was created at the direction of council.
"Senior management positions are not always posted and are sometimes done by appointment," the spokesperson said.
Pique sat down with Furey on July 25 to discuss his new position and where the resort goes from here.
The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
ON WHAT PROMPTED THIS DECISION:
Mike Furey: "Myself and [Mayor Jack Crompton] and council are constantly in dialogue on how we move forward on major initiatives, how we achieve the ambitious policy agenda and project agenda that council has come up with ... By stepping away from the day-to-day operations and management, it frees up my time to focus specifically on those [major policy and project initiatives], and hopefully move those forward in a substantive way.
"I think council is happy that the projects ... around the Official Community Plan (OCP) and the housing policy, and the strategic planning committee, have all been moving forward at a fairly good pace, but there's definitely room to accelerate those, and they are key, foundational pieces for the community.
"I think at the top of the list of things we need to do, along with other fairly, equally significant initiatives such as securing long-term funding for wildfire mitigation, continuing to work towards a regional transit regime ... one of the personal priorities for me is continuing to build our relations with the Lil'wat and Squamish [First Nations], which I think we have made significant progress on over the last number of years."
ON FIRST NATIONS RELATIONS AND THE OCP:
MF: "I think it's moving to a different place. Away from sort of the OCP approval discussions and negotiations, and working specifically with the province, to more, I hope ... community-to-community work in areas such as growing cultural awareness—starting within the municipality, but also growing partnerships.
"[Lil'wat Chief Dean Nelson] and I and Jack and others have talked about seeing their members directly involved in the success of Whistler in terms of everything from working in jobs here to ... running businesses here, and you look at the opportunities in this community—and there's opportunities that they've been growing in Mount Currie—but there's so much they can build on here.
"So it's more moving away from capturing understandings in legal documents, etc., to more how do we share opportunities between our two communities.
"There's things we're going to do and we are doing, like more recognition of the presence of Squamish and Lil'wat through our signage and through displays in various parts of the land around the community, but again, sort of moving beyond that and finding ways that we could be partners from an economic perspective.
"Kadenwood has quite a development potential and there is bed units assigned to that and zoning in the OCP, so I assume at some point the Lil'wat and Squamish will want to pursue that, so we would be starting our economic development committee that's in the [OCP] as well, [which] will have membership from Squamish and Lil'wat and RMOW, and work on some priorities around tourism growth, opportunities for economic development, those sorts of things."
ON WHAT HE SEES AS PRIORITIES FOR THE NEW CAO
MF: "Well, a couple of thoughts. One, I have changed different positions over the years and have had successors, obviously, and my general inclination is to not try and influence that person's thinking too much one way or the other, in terms of how they manage or run the organization, because you want them to grow their own impression and not have it sort of sullied by my perspectives.
"That said, I think, while it's not immediately evident over the last months or so, the wildfire threat [is a priority] ... you look across the province the last couple of years, the province has just been on fire. Last year there were 1.3 million hectares of land burned in B.C., ... there is only 11,000 so far this year, so that's pretty good.
"It's not like it's gone away, I think we've just got a bit of a reprieve, knock on wood, this year, because we've had some nice rain.
"I won't have any part in [the hiring of the new CAO]. I will report to the new CAO, and one of my views is there can be only one leader in the organization, and I will be available as little or as much as that person may or may not want to call upon me. I have reached the point now in my career where I have no aspirations for any other things, and so it's like, how can I be of assistance?"
