Eddie Robar has been named Edmonton’s interim city manager until council hires someone to permanently be the most senior official in city administration.
Robar was appointed acting city manager on March 22, when it was suddenly announced Andre Corbould would be leaving the role on April 3.
On Wednesday, the city said Robar would stay in the position as the interim manager, responsible for leading more than 11,000 City of Edmonton employees.
The role is just one of two that is hired by city council and reports directly to it.
“Ultimately, I’m here to provide that conduit between council and administration,” Robar said.
“I am one of two council employees, so making sure that we are enacting or pushing forward the initiatives of city council is kind of what my job is to do. Take that conversation, that strategy and turn that into implementation in the city.”
“Council relies on city administration to provide the information and advice for us to make the best decisions for Edmontonians,” Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said in a statement.
“We appreciate that Eddie will provide a steady hand during this transition period. He has already earned the confidence of council through leadership in delivering key city programs, and we appreciate his commitment to public service in taking on this new assignment.”
Prior to becoming the interim city manager, Robar was the deputy city manager of city operations. The department is responsible for parks, roads, transit, waste, fleet and facility programs.
The city said in that role, he has overseen redesign of the city’s bus network, introduced adjustments to snow and ice programs, and advanced the organics waste program.
Robar has been with the city since 2016 when he was hired as the Edmonton Transit Service branch manager. Prior to that, he led the transit system in Halifax.
Robar to focus on improving workplace culture and transparency
Before Corbould left, he led the city through tumultuous collective bargaining with Civic Service Union 52 (CSU 52), which nearly resulted in thousands of workers walking off the job in March.
Robar said moving on from that period of animosity is one of the major things on his radar.
“Obviously, the recent labour strife is something that we need to work on from a culture perspective in the organisation. I think that’s where I bring a lot of value. I think we’ve done a lot of work in city operations around workplace culture and driving that into the organization,” Robar said.
“Getting so close to having a strike is challenging on anyone.”
Addressing safety and security, and ensuring core services are well managed are also on his agenda.
“I think there’s some work we need to do on our core services. Obviously, coming out of city operations I’ve lived that for the past a few years,” he said.
Corbould joined the city in January 2021 after an “extensive national search,” and came to the job after serving in senior roles with the government of Alberta and the Canadian Armed Forces.
He replaced former city manager Linda Cochrane, who retired in 2019 after more than 37 years with the City of Edmonton. Former deputy city manager Adam Laughlin had covered the role on an interim basis in between Corbould and Cochrane.
When it comes to applying lessons learned from previous city managers, Robar said Cochrane fostered a good workplace culture that he wants to work to restore, while Laughlin was an excellent communicator — especially during the pandemic — and Corbould was tasked with navigating financially difficult years.
He wants to carry on all three of those areas while also promoting transparency.
“The culture piece is a big piece of work that I think we need to get on right away, something that we can do and manage throughout the organization in a way that hopefully is not impactful to our financial situation.”
The city said as the manager role is a contracted employee of city council, and contract terms are being finalized.
There is no firm timeline for finding a new permanent city manager, Sohi said, adding it’s a process to find the right person for the senior role.
On Wednesday, Robar was asked if he would apply for the permanent gig but said it was too soon to tell.
“Certainly this confidence from council is great, offers me an opportunity to kind of test-drive the position. It’s a great opportunity. I guess we’ll see.”
7 high-ranking officials leave City of Edmonton in a year
Corbould and Laughlin are two of seven high-ranking officials to leave the City of Edmonton in less than a year.
In April 2023, a reorganizing saw two deputy city manager positions eliminated: Kim Armstrong had been the deputy city manager of employee services since August 2018 and Catrin Owen had been the deputy city manager of communications and engagement since September 2018.
The following month, Hoa Quach left his position as city auditor. That role and the role of city manager are the only two positions that are hired by and directly report to city council.
One month after Quach left, long-time city employee Gord Cebryk left his position of deputy city manager of city operations.
While he had been in that position since 2018, Cebryk started with the City of Edmonton in May 1988.
In July, Stephanie McCabe left. She too had been a long-time employee, starting with the city in January 2003 and serving as deputy city manager of urban planning since February 2019.
Starting with the city in 2014, Laughlin served as interim city manager from December 2019, ushering the city through the COVID-19 pandemic until Corbould was hired in January 2021.
Laughlin then reverted back to deputy city manager of integrated infrastructure services until his sudden departure in February 2024.
“People leave for different reasons, obviously from different roles,” Robar said.
“I’m not afraid of what that means and losing that institutional knowledge. Those people are still my friends. I can call them up any day and and have a conversation with them as well.”
With files from Breanna Karstens-Smith, Global News