GM’S retirement continues city hall’s two-year string of turnovers at the top

Randy Grauer embraced the importance of customer service during his time working the counter as a junior planner at Saskatoon city hall’s planning department.

Grauer, the city’s general manager of community services, said Monday he carried that appreciation for customer service through 36 years at the city. He is retiring at the end of the year, meaning Monday ’s meeting of council’s planning, development and community services committee was his last.

“I’ve had a wonderful, rewarding career,” Grauer said. “It’s never been easy and it’s rarely been fun.”

Grauer gave credit to his staff, saying he’s “just one spoke in the wheel” in his wide-ranging department, which includes planning and development.

City manager Jeff Jorgenson said Grauer helped guide the city through a shift in thinking in the area of development to align with the city’s growth plan. He said Grauer’s work will shape the city for generations .

“Losing the experience of people like Randy Grauer is definitely difficult and even impossible to replace,” Jorgenson said.

Since the current city council was elected less than two years ago, four of the top five positions have been vacated and two remain without permanent replacements.

Jorgenson was named the successor to former city manager Murray Totland in May, leaving Jorgenson’s former job as general manager of transportation and utilities open. General manager of corporate performance Catherine Gryba left the city in May 2017.

Angela Gardiner is filling in at transportation and utilities, and Dan Willems is leading corporate performance until permanent replacements can be found.