Council has unanimously approved appointing Dana Woodworth as interim Recovery Team leader for the three to four months needed to find and hire a full-time permanent team lead.
That approval confirmed a unanimous vote last week by the Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee.
“We elected as a committee to recommend an interim leader for a period of three to four months so that we could do our due diligence in hiring that long-term leader to carry us through,” said Jeanette Bancarz, Chair of the WBRC, who presented the recommendation to council.
She said they were looking for someone with the experience, the leadership ability, and the knowledge to carry the community through the foundation-building and long-term planning necessary to establish the permanent Recovery Team leader and to have the community be as successful as it could through recovery.
“At the end of the day we landed on Dana Woodworth who, a lot of you would know, is kind of an expert in disaster recovery,” Bancarz said. “He was hired by the Alberta Government to support our response and transitioning into recovery as well. He was here supporting senior administration from mid-May to the end of June, so he’s well aware of where our community is, he’s familiar with the players, he’s already been building relationships that will be really effective in us capitalizing on the time that we have with him.”
Woodworth said he spent that time in an advisory capacity and has learned a lot about the resiliency of our community. He has also been working again in Fort McMurray since Friday, after the WBRC approved recommending his appointment, and as Bancarz said has hit the ground running.
Woodworth said the community should be proud of what it has accomplished thus far.
“You didn’t arrive at this point in time by circumstance,” he said. “You’ve had some incredible leadership demonstrated by Darby Allen, by Bob Couture, by Dale Benfeld, by Chris Graham. All of these people have allowed your team to go from, arguably, the largest disaster in Canadian history to this point in time where you’re starting to really integrate and bring back your entire community.”
Now, he says it’s time to look to the future, which means developing a concrete plan for long-term recovery, drafting and getting approval for a budget for that recovery, and hiring the people needed to staff the Recovery Task Force.
“When I look three months out I’m envisioning it done, but I always like to be a little early so I’d say, personally, I’d love to have this team clearly identified, maybe not completely built, but on the ground and functioning within two months against a plan that has been approved and has a budget against it,” he said.
The overall goal, of course, is to set up a functioning recovery team for the full-time permanent Recovery Team lead.
“When I leave and hand over to a leader of your community for the long-term recovery, in my mind success will be that leader, that long-term recovery leader is completely prepared, has a team, has a plan that makes sense, has a budget, and is situated to deliver the multi-year recovery plan,” he said.
Woodworth said he has absolutely no plans to fill the permanent role himself.
“I don’t. I’m very frank about that. I have been throughout the time I’ve been here. Your community, your success is predecated on your community recovering. So, a whole community effort is required, including the leadership long-term,” he said. “I’m in the community, I’m not well-known, as perhaps some others are, I’m starting to make the relationships I think are important, but I’m not necessarily of Fort McMurray and I recognize that. I’m very clear on that. The long-term recovery leadership should be of your community.”
That said, Woodworth said he will be available for consultation over the long-term because the plan that’s put in place in these next two to four months will be fluid and will change over time with input from stakeholders along the way.
Woodworth made it clear he plans to consult directly with the hundreds, if not thousands, of stakeholders in this community who are affected by the decisions made through the recovery process including residents, homeowners, businesses, government, etc.
He said he plans to stay in Fort McMurray for the duration of his appointment and will not be commuting. As a former combat engineer he said he has experience with 12-13 month deployments and wants to be immersed in this community while he works to help with recovery.
“I intend to just kind of dig in and stay,” he said, saying he’s got a room at a local hotel. “I need to be here on the ground and not just eight hours a day. It’s not going to go away when the sun goes down and comes up. The conversation continues, the needs arise.”
He said the community can expect to see him around as he works to help it recover.
