The Citizen, 2017-10-05, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017. PAGE 15.
CAO to put focus on better customer interactions
519-357-3550
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Under new management
Dwayne Evans is bringing his years of experience in
planning and municipal administration to North Huron as
the its new Chief Administrative Officer. He plans on putting
a focus on customer relations. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
North Huron Township's new
Chief Administrative Officer
Dwayne Evans has some deep local
roots and hopes to put a focus on
front-line service.
Evans lives in Goderich, hails
from Brussels and has lived in
Belgrave over the course of his life.
He was selected to replace North
Huron Chief Administrative Officer
Sharon Chambers who left the
municipality earlier this year.
Evans said, in an interview with
The Citizen, he is excited to bring
his experience with planning and
economic development to North
Huron to help grow the municipality.
Prior to coming to North Huron
early last month, Evans was the
clerk/planning coordinator in
Goderich, a position which had him
working hand-in-hand with Huron
County as well as developers
interested in the town.
"As clerk, I had the typical
responsibilities of the office but I
also oversaw the planning process
from the town's side," he said. "The
county would provide the planning
services, but I would help with
meeting legislated requirements for
the town and liaise with developers."
Evans had been in the position for
just over three years when he came
to North Huron and, prior to that,
worked with the Ministry of
Municipal Affairs for approximately
nine years.
During his time with the
government branch, he handled the
Grey, Bruce, Waterloo, Wellington
and Huron areas.
Prior to his time with the province,
Evans worked for Huron County
from 1995 until 2004, including
being planner for Goderich. After
the tornado hit the town in 2013, he
found himself back to his former
stomping ground to help out.
"I took a leave from the ministry
to replace the planner that was
assigned to Goderich who was going
on a maternity leave," he said. "I
knew the players, and, after the
tornado, Goderich went through a
reorganization, so I was asked to
stay."
Evans pursued an education in
geography and public
administration, attaining a Master's
Degree in both, and maintains his
registered planner status as well as
being a member of the Ontario
Provincial Planning Institute and
Canadian Institute of Planners.
While much of his experience and
education has focused on planning,
he said that Chief Administrative
Officer of a municipality is
something that has been on his radar
for a long time.
"While I was in the government, I
sought out training and programs to
help with leadership," he said. "I'm
very self -motivated in terms of
growing and learning, both in
informal ways and formal ways."
Evans also completed municipal
training through the Association of
Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario and
plans on pursuing his Certified
Management Official designation in
the new future.
Evans believes his experience in
economic development will assist
him to grow North Huron.
His last major projects in
Goderich include a hotel and
conference centre being built at the
site of the former Victoria Public
School.
"I worked with the developer to
keep the process going for the site
and facilitated what was necessary,"
he said. "I also worked to bring a
compressed air facility to Goderich."
Part of that economic development
experience is already being
leveraged in North Huron as he will
serve as the Economic Development
Officer for the Economic
Development Committee that will be
implemented in the future.
"That committee will serve in an
advisory role to council, not a
decision-making body," he said. "I
want to get them up and running and
assist and support them as
necessary... my experience is a good
fit for that committee."
Growing the municipality's
commercial and industrial offerings
is something Evans thinks he will
excel at due to his experience in
Goderich.
Parking available in Walton for Festival
Continued from page 1
help direct visitors to the event.
The event will also attract eight
national media outlets, including two
television stations sending their own
specialized program hosts down.
The Canadian specialty channel
Space, which focuses on fantasy and
science fiction, will be sending
Morgan Hoffman from its show
Innerspace.
Children's channel YTV will also
be sending hosts from its program
The Zone.
Swartz explained that the festival
will also serve as the perfect venue
for the announcement of next year's
Festival of Wizardry ticket sales
date.
"We know a lot of people are
wondering when the tickets will go
on sale, and we'll be revealing that at
this year's festival," Swartz said.
"For those that can't attend but want
to keep up to date on the
information, we suggest they visit
transfiguredtown.com and subscribe
to our mailing list."
Volunteers are still being sought
for the event according to organizer
Sally Litchfield.
Anyone who gives time to the
event receives entry into the festival
as well as a t -shirt.
For more information,
contact Litchfield at
slitchfield@transfiguredtown.com.
FESTIVAL ITINERARY
The Festival of Wizardry consists
of two identical days of
programming on Saturday and
Sunday, allowing one -day visitors to
take everything in and allowing two-
day visitors to take part in
programming they may have missed
on their first visit.
Both Saturday and Sunday will
feature `wizard rock' music
including Harry Potter -themed
musical acts The Lovegoods, Tonks
and the Aurors and Draco and the
Malfoys. Saturday, Girl Power will
also take the stage. Live
entertainment is on stage at 10 a.m.
and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30
a.m. and 12:45 p.m. on Sunday.
The Blyth Community Centre will
feature `Nick's Deathday', a special
on -ice attraction that will serve
beverages and feature ghostly figure
skaters and actors.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts"
classes will be hosted hourly in a
special children's area at the grounds
starting at noon and running until 4
p.m.
Quidditch, a game made popular
in the Harry Potter universe, will run
on the grounds from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Special sections of the
campground will host wizard games
including yoga, book readings, big
chess and board games as well as a
special selfie area including actors,
props and sets.
Blyth Memorial Hall, renamed
Borealis School for Wizardry, will
play host to special skits throughout
the day every 45 minutes starting at
9:30 a.m. with the last show starting
at 3:30 p.m.
Vendors will be on the grounds at
the Hallow Emporium throughout
both days selling special goods.
For a full list of events or more
information, visit Transfigured
Town's website.
PARKING
Those visiting the event will have
several parking options available to
them, be they volunteers, vendors or
festival -goers.
A shuttle is available from
Goderich for those with tickets who
are staying in the town, the original
site for the event.
Shuttle parking is available at the
Walton Raceway at 42932 Walton
Road for $5 per day which includes
a shuttle to and from the grounds.
Volunteers will be on site for added
security, however, according to its
release, Transfigured Town is not
responsible for lost or stolen items.
Accessible parking is available at
the community centre on the
grounds at 377 Gypsy Lane as well
as non -wheelchair accessible
parking at the shuttle parking area in
Walton.
Finally, free parking is available
through the village of Blyth where
normally available, however the
i -
Find a restaurant
on the
Stops Along The Way
section of our
website at
www. northhuron.on.ca
organizers urge visitors to be aware
of the parking rules.
Specifically, parking will not be
tolerated on county roads
approaching the village (Blyth or
London Roads). According to the
organizers, bylaw enforcement
officers will be on hand to make sure
the rules are followed.
Thus far, Evans has been focusing
on getting the lay of the land in
hopes of putting a greater focus on
customer service improvements.
"I'm working with staff on
development processes to find
efficiencies in regards to how people
interact with the municipality," he
said.
One change Evans is looking to
implement is to have front-line staff
cross -trained to make sure no one
leaves the municipal office without
an answer.
"The idea is that almost everyone
will leave with what they need,
whether that be the information to
set up a lottery program or a
marriage licence," he said. "I want to
make sure people can get the help
they need."
Evans said that immediate answers
or solutions aren't always an option,
but said he hopes to mirror how he
had the Goderich town hall set up
where, if someone does their
research and brings all the correct
documentation, they can be out the
door with what they need.
Using marriage licences as an
example, Evans said that 95 per cent
of the time, there was always
one person, if not two, in the
Goderich town office who could
issue them.
"Customer service is important, as
a municipality," he said. "We need to
be ready and prepared to provide
what the ratepayers need"
Evans said he has met with staff
and asked what they need in order to
do their job effectively in hopes of
increasing customer relations.
He said he hopes to be proactive,
not reactive, and be ready for
situations that are thrown at staff
and, to that end, he has started
meeting with organizations in North
Huron to get a better idea of what
they require of the township staff
and council.
He has met or set up meetings with
the Blyth Festival, Blyth Business
Improvement Areas and the
Blyth Arts and Culture Initiative
14/19 Inc.
Laundromat
Blyth Laundromat
191 Westmoreland St., Blyth
519-523-9687
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