By: Frank Green
Danielle Smith, the deputy administrator and treasurer, will resign from McBride’s Village Office on April 8th.
Last November Smith announced that she planned to retire from her post in December 2015 – she said she moved up the timeline for personal reasons, and that it was a decision she’d mulled over for a good deal longer than the past couple weeks. She declined to specify when.
“I need a change from this place,” said Smith, who has worked for the village since 2005. “There comes a time when you want some time to yourself.”
She noted that she also does bookkeeping for her husband’s business, Cedar 3 Products, and that her evenings are sometimes no less busy than her days.
Smith said she’d seek new part time employment, hopefully not in an office.
Smith will be the fourth staffer to leave the Village Office since the last election, joining the chief administrative officer, the economic development officer, and the public works foreman.
The mayor and council found out about Smith’s resignation, along with the public, at the council meeting on March 10th.
There aren’t statistics on the churn of government staff following elections, but it’s a standard part of politics, said Paul Taylor, the director of communications at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.
“When you look around the province after every election, there’s definitely turnover as part of the picture. It varies by degree,” Taylor said. “And it impacts smaller communities more.”
The Village posted an employment ad for her position as well as the CAO position this week.
