The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the District of Clearwater (DOC), Byron Johnson would like residents to know that he sees his role within the community in an administrative support capacity. Johnson took over the position of CAO on Oct. 15 and has been busy familiarizing himself with the area and administrative duties supporting council.
In a recent interview with Black Press on Friday, Dec. 6 Johnson said, “Council is truly the visioning body from my perspective. My job is to try to make sure that the district itself runs as effectively as possible and still try to achieve council’s vision. Council has visions around housing, and we just had a new housing report come to council in the form of a ‘needs assessment report’ and Barriere did the same thing as well done by the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD).”
Johnson stresses the need for housing solutions, economic development and more, adding, “There are lots of things that every small-town need in it, especially if you are a post-industrial town where you’ve lost major taxation and employment, we need to explore what’s next for the economy here.”
Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell has confidence in the new CAO, “Bryon comes with many solid years of experience in the CAO trenches. I look forward to working with him to resolve outstanding files and move forward on important projects. Happy to have his steady hand guiding our district team.”
Johnson has a strong background in municipal administration, most recently serving as the CAO for the city of Quesnel prior to accepting the position in Clearwater.
“This is my kind of area. I love a rural lifestyle and Clearwater is such a warm community with so many good people here that offers a lot of amenities as well. I grew up in the 100 Mile area, so I really love the small town aspect, and then living in Quesnel for quite a period of time, moving there in 1995, so over 20 years there. I also spent a couple of years in Sun Peaks when they first became a municipality as their CAO. This is just a great move for us coming back to another small town again,” said Johnson.
The CAO adds that Clearwater will “likely be doing a new Official Community Plan (OCP) in the near future” hoping residents will really engage during that process by giving their own input.
“What do residents want their community to look like 20 years from now and where are we going with it? Where do we see development? What kind of development do we want to see? The OCP will be a chance for that visioning process to take place and also for the community to really engage,” he said.
Johnson says they will need to be discerning when reviewing bids on which company will conduct the OCP and it will be important to analyze those proposals for a comprehensive engagement plan since the current plan is over twelve years old now.
He adds, “It’s important to capture the widest spectrum of input that you can, in particular, with the changes to some of the housing bylaws coming down from the province where there’s reduced input at the time of subdivision by the public. What that means is, that your OCP becomes your key document for collecting that input of what the community wants and what it’s going to look like. The document is one thing but the most important part of it is how to capture the input.”
Johnson feels that every firm that submits a bid will have a different plan for public engagement which they will review before deciding on a firm. In his view, it’s imperative for much of the input to be done in person, whether through special sessions, not just online in order to gather that input.
“An OCP has a long frame of reference. You are asking the question to the community what they want to see 20 to 30 years out. What do you want your community to look like? Where are you going to build your infrastructure? If the community decides it wants more development in certain parts of the community we have to make sure that our infrastructure plans are all tied to that in a cohesive way. So, the OCP is the glue that ties planning together. It’s important to get it done right.”
The CAO is also looking forward to working with Simpcw First Nation, adding, “Simpcw is key in accomplishing the OCP and we are hoping they will be deeply engaged in the process. The best way to work successfully with municipalities, First Nations and any other groups is through collaborative partnering.”
