Former City of Port Alberni manager Ken Watson officially retires after more than 25 years with the city on Dec. 31.
He will enjoy retirement for less than 24 hours before officially starting a new job as director of legislative services for the District of Saanich.
“They called me, I didn’t call them,” Watson said during a commute back to Port Alberni from Saanich on Tuesday.
Watson was moved out of the city manager role at the end of 2015 and has spent the past year as major projects advisor. He’s been effectively retired since July.
“I was kind of feeling a bit of a void, wanting to do something more intellectual. I didn’t want to go into something open-ended.
“It wasn’t something I sought; I thought it might be fun to do something different.”
Being a director in a larger community is not the same as a chief administrative officer, which is the role he had in Port Alberni. “The portfolio will be land, legislative, legal, strategic planning and archives and records,” he said. “It’s more of a focused role than a CAO.”
Watson, who started as city engineer with Port Alberni more than 25 years ago before ascending to the role of city manager, said it will be interesting to work with a larger municipal entity.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and the stimulation.”
Watson was happy to have a job with an end date to it—the District of Saanich hopes to have a permanent director in place by June—because he doesn’t want to leave the Alberni Valley. Although he has a suite to live in while working in Saanich, he will return to Port Alberni on his down time, where his wife Erica runs Stirling Images Photography, and where the Watsons have grandchildren.
“We’re not leaving the community,” he said.
