Meet the new CAO of the Town of Smoky Lake

By Irene van der Kloet

After several months of working with an interim CAO while looking for a new candidate, the Town of Smoky Lake hired Dawn Phillips to fill this position. “I worked in municipal government my entire career and moved into management in my early twenties in Grande Cache, where I’m from. I started my management degree through Athabasca university. From there, I went to the city of Camrose. I was there for 14 years, community services have been my history. I started my governance courses over the next several years and moved on to the town of Taber. It’s kind of neat to see how every community does things a little bit differently. From there, I wanted to diversify my portfolio, so I thought it would be interesting to work in a more rural community, in Athabasca. I had thought that down the road, maybe in five years, I’d be interested in the CAO role, but after six weeks there, the CAO left, and I was appointed interim CAO, and that position lasted for eleven months. I realized very quickly that I loved the governance side of things, so when I moved back into my role of community services, I started looking around for a CAO role, and when this one opened up, I felt it would be a perfect match, also because my husband and I love small communities. I am very passionate about community services, recreation, events, culture and heritage in the community.” Dawn’s primary target is to settle in and learn everything about the community first. “One thing I learned in previous roles is how valuable the regional approach is. Working regionally with the county and communities like Vilna and Waskatenau is very valuable, and I’d like to promote that. The Town developed a new strategic plan shortly before I came here, which I definitely want to prioritize. We are planning a follow-up session now that I’m in this role, so we’ll be working with the organization that helped set it up. Working with council and staff, hoping to work closely with them and move in a positive direction. It’s a great group of staff here at the Town.” Dawn and her husband have already bought a house in town. Their children don’t live far, in Fort Saskatchewan and Camrose, and so Smoky Lake is, in that respect, the perfect place to be. “Being part of the community is vital because then you know the residents’ needs.” When Dawn and her husband first drove to the community, they got a positive impression and said to each other:” This is a place where we could live. It’s a sort of a regional hub; we have many assets here in this community”.  Dawn feels very welcome, and people have been very friendly and helpful.