Winnipeg, MB – The City of Winnipeg’s Chief Administrative Officer submitted a letter to the Mayor and members of Executive Policy Committee today communicating his decision to retire at the end of April.
Pursuant to requirements outlined in his employment agreement, Doug McNeil has provided two months written notice to the Mayor and Executive Policy Committee that his last day of employment with the City of Winnipeg will be April 26, 2019.
“I want to thank Mr. McNeil for his commitment and effort to build and position our city for a population projected to grow steadily and strongly into the future,” said Mayor Brian Bowman. “His knowledge and experience, both professionally as an engineer and his years of public service, contributed significantly to modernizing, professionalizing, and rebuilding trust across the City of Winnipeg’s public service.”
“Mr. McNeil’s leadership has helped make the City of Winnipeg one of the leaders in asset and project management, he has been a champion and supporter of the city’s reconciliation efforts, and he helped restore trust by updating the public service’s code of conduct and conflict of interest policies.”
“Above all, Mr. McNeil has achieved all of this while maintaining a professional approach with nothing short of the highest degree of integrity, honesty, and commitment. I certainly respect his decision to retire, and want to wish him all the very best in retirement,” said Mayor Bowman.
Doug McNeil joined the City of Winnipeg as its Chief Administrative Officer on April 7, 2015 following a unanimous recommendation for appointment from the selection committee that was comprised of Mayor Bowman together with Councillors Morantz, Pagtakhan, Lukes, Orlikow, Mayes, Gerbasi, and Allard.
Mr. McNeil brought to the City of Winnipeg a significant wealth of experience including over thirty years of work in the public sector, with more than twenty years of experience working with elected officials. This work included serving as a deputy minister of Infrastructure and Transportation with the Province of Manitoba, working with the Manitoba Floodway Authority, as well as for the City of Winnipeg’s Water and Waste department where he helped lead the City’s flood fighting efforts during the 1997 flood of the century.
Mr. McNeil is the City of Winnipeg’s first and only Chief Administrative Officer to make his entire employment contract publicly available. He was also the first of the statutory officers to do so demonstrating the leadership necessary to underscore the importance and significance of openness and transparency in the public sector.
His employment contract remains available on the City of Winnipeg’s website: CAO_McNeil_employment_contract.pdf.
Mayor Bowman said efforts to recruit a new Chief Administrative Officer will begin shortly with the appointment of a new selection committee tasked with leading the recruitment and selection process, as well as recommending to Council the appointment of the City of Winnipeg’s next Chief Administrative Officer.