The City of Williams Lake now has its own angel.
Well, that’s the last name of the newly hired corporate engagement officer — Guillermo Angel.
Angel, 28, began work on Monday and will be tasked with creating effective communication strategies, sourcing and securing grants and providing official communication channels for mayor and council, as well as general digital media management.
A “plethora” of reasons inspired him to apply for the job, he told the Tribune during his third day at work.
“Williams Lake is an amazing place to live and work, and the City of Williams Lake as an organization is a great group of people that are dedicated and work very hard for its citizens,” he said. “When an opportunity arose for me to join the organization like this and help me to utilize and bring forward some of the passions I have in different areas, it was an opportunity I couldn’t ignore.”
He has worked in the financial industry for about five years, starting with a private investment firm before moving to RBC in Williams Lake, which he said will be an asset for grant writing.
“It will be all about different projects and funding that we are looking for,” he said when asked how his success as a grant writer will be measured.
“As long as I assist and ensure we are securing grants to fulfill the city’s strategic plan then I know I will be doing a good job.”
He explained the City will use his position to help create a new communication strategy that will include developing digital communications, press releases and forming a relationship with media will all be things he will be involved in.
“I won’t be taking those things away completely from other departments, as they will want to maintain some autonomy, but I’ll be supporting them whenever I can,” he added. “Mayor Walt Cobb will still want to talk directly with media.”
As he starts out he plans to examine what is working, what is not working right now, what changes can be made to improve things and what can be left as it is.
“We want to make sure, not only for businesses and strategic partners, but for every citizen, that communication becomes a lot more accessible. We still encourage people to communicate with the City directly by phone calls or e-mails, but if there are questions we want to make sure there is transparent communication and citizens feel there is always a voice and a person there to help them out.”
Originally from the city of Pereira, Colombia, a very mountainous area in the Andes, he arrived in B.C. a decade ago to attend the University of B.C. Okanagan in Kelowna to study bio-psychology.
While at university he met Megan Cail from Williams Lake.
The two were married and a year ago moved to Megan’s hometown with their baby daughter, Siena, to be closer to Megan’s family.
She is a registered nurse and was able to secure a job with Interior Health in public health and Angel was hired to work at RBC.
At this point Angel said the position is for one year and if value is found in it, then hopefully, it will become permanent.
When asked what he likes about Williams Lake he said how it changes, depending on the season, and how he can be anywhere in five minutes.
“It truly makes a difference, especially for someone with a young family, when you can come home and spend time with your family at lunch time,” he added, noting the people he has worked with and he knows in the community have been welcoming and warm.
There is a lot of opportunity in Williams Lake, he said.
“Williams Lake is growing and with the fact it is growing, it allows people to make what they want with the opportunities in front of them.”
He and his wife have a small business — Mi Casa Coffee — selling coffee grown on the plantation his parents have owned in Colombia for 40-plus years.
In 2014, the newly-elected city council eliminated the communications position along with five other positions within the City as a cost-saving measure.
Angel said the difference between his position than the one that was eliminated is that it is “solely” about communications.
“There is a higher ask of different items that I will be tasked with,” he added.
“One of my aims during my tenure here is to show those people outside of Williams Lake and around the province what opportunities there are here in Williams Lake. Williams Lake is a lot more than what it’s given credit for.”
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