City of Dawson Creek’s CAO announces retirement

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. – Blair Lekstrom, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Dawson Creek, will be retiring at the end of 2022.

Lekstrom started with the city in 1993 as a councillor before becoming Mayor of Dawson Creek from 1996 to 2001. He was later elected as a councillor once again in 2018.

In February 2020, he stepped down as a councillor and became CAO, where he served for the past two and a half years.

Upon his start in the role, he was tasked with running the city during a worldwide pandemic, directing staff through the ever-changing levels of health and safety protocols.

He was also tasked with “balancing the scales” regarding the city’s use of the Peace River Agreement (PRA) funding.

According to a release, he took the city from an 85 per cent operating and 15 per cent capital investment usage of the PRA to a projected 70 per cent capital investment and 30 per cent operating usage, which will be fully transitioned in the future.

“I have been very fortunate in my life to have been given the opportunity to serve my community in an elected capacity, as well as serve in the Chief Administrator Officer role at our incredible City,” Lekstrom said.

“I want to thank Mayor and Council, all of the staff who work for the city and the
residents whom I have served for close to 30 years. It has been a true privilege.”

In a statement, mayor and council are grateful to Lekstrom for filling this position and for his hard work in streamlining the city’s operational budget.

“I want to express our sincere thanks to Blair for his service to the city as our CAO. His dedication to the community continued as it has in the past, with a passion to make Dawson Creek the best it can be,” said Mayor Dale Bumstead.

“We will miss him as he moves on to the next chapter with Vicki and the kids and grandkids.”