The Village of Canal Flats has welcomed a new interim chief administrative officer who will serve the community for the next four months. Invermere local Dawn Attorp will serve as the interim CAO, bringing 25 years of municipal government experience to the position. Attorp was born and raised in Invermere, moving away after high school to continue her education. After getting married and having a family, Attorp moved back to Invermere three years ago.
“I’m local, I know lots of people. I feel like Canal Flats is my community because it’s part of the Valley. So it’s really an exciting opportunity to work here,” said Attorp.
Attorp was working in Kimberley B.C. as a corporate officer when she heard about the position in Canal Flats from mayor Ute Juras and council members.
“I heard about it through mayor and council. I had just actually given my notice at the City of Kimberley so it was perfect timing. I basically finished at the city of Kimberley had the long weekend and started here,” said Attorp.
Attorp holds certificates in local government administration and has continued to take online courses throughout her career. She started her municipal government career in 1991 working in Grand Forks, eventually working her way up through a variety of communities to her curent interim CAO position.
“Started right at the entry level job, front desk in Grand Forks and I think that’s one of the most important jobs because you learn about everything from taking calls, from that I worked my way through,” said Attorp.
Having four days under her belt as interim CAO she stated it’s been awesome and she’s excited to be there.
“Canal Flats we have got so much on the go. You know obviously when the mill shut down it was very devastating for the community but councils really working on economic development. So there’s just a lot of opportunities right now it’s a really exciting time to be working here actually,” said Attorp.
Attorp described her management style as collaborative and was happy that the staff at the village seem to have a similar style.
“My management style is collaborative. I like to work with the people that are here, and so far it’s reciprocal. It’s how they work as well. I think the collective wisdom is far better than one individual,” said Attorp.
Attorp is looking forward to working with mayor and council on the projects they already have in the works.
“I’m very happy to be working here and moving a lot of things forward with council, like the new economic development plan and strategic plan and all those things they’ve got started to boost the community. Like I said there’s a lot going on here and it’s very progressive.,” said Attorp.
Dawn Attorp will be sworn in as interim CAO for the Village of Canal Flats on Monday, April 24th at the community’s council meeting.