SUMA chief executive to step down

The head of the association representing Saskatchewan cities and towns intends to step down in the fall after 12 years on the job.

Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) CEO Laurent Mougeot, who joined the association after 26 years in a range of positions with the City of Prince Albert, said he plans to take time off and travel after leaving the position on Sept. 22. SUMA said Monday that a search for his replacement will begin in the coming weeks.

“There’s nothing there that eases me out or pushes me out, or provides an incentive for me to leave,” Mougeot said Monday, a few hours after SUMA announced his departure. “This is really part of my plan … Twelve years is a long time. I’ve been in the sector for 40 years.”

SUMA president Gordon Barnhart, who was elected earlier this year, said in a statement that Mougeot has been a “strong leader on the local government scene” as well as an “invaluable adviser and a good friend to many in the municipal world — in Canada and abroad.”

Mougeot’s announcement came less than a month after SUMA elected not to sue the province over its decision to redirect into its general revenue fund the grants that would otherwise have been paid to cities and towns. He said relations between municipalities and government are vital, and are better now than a few months ago, when the 2017-18 budget was released.

“We accomplish great things when we’re talking,” he said. “And there’s a significant amount of room for failure when the parties are not communicating.”

Mougeot said he was proudest of his contribution to the establishment of the current municipal revenue-sharing formula, which is linked to provincial sales tax revenue and peaked at $271.34 million in 2016-17, and his work on SUMAssure, an insurance program for municipalities.