Having served as Stratford’s acting director of corporate services since September 2021, Karmen Krueger was appointed to the position permanently at a special meeting of council this week.
After leading council through one of the most difficult and contentious budget deliberations in recent memory, Stratford council officially appointed Karmen Krueger as the city’s new director of corporate services this week.
The appointment was made official at a special meeting of council Monday, roughly six months after Krueger began serving as the city’s acting director of corporate services in September 2021 following the death of Janice Beirness, the city’s previous corporate services director, in August.
Krueger said the move from acting to permanent director was a natural one, especially after she got to know and work with city staff and councilors over the past half year.
“I’m most excited about becoming part of the (City of Stratford) family permanently because I’ve been really impressed with the group I’m working with now – not just with staff, but with council as well. I’m just happy to be part of the group,” Krueger said.
Equipped with a degree in economics and designations as both a certified financial planner and a chartered accountant, Krueger served as treasurer, deputy treasurer and director of corporate services for several municipalities across Bruce and Gray counties prior to accepting the acting director role in Stratford.
“Most of my municipal experience has been in lower-tier municipalities, so it’s definitely a challenge to move into a role like Stratford. where it’s not just that it’s a single-tier city but it’s providing services that I’ve not really had the pleasure of working with before,” Krueger said. “It’s good for my career extension and certainly good for me to be able to bring what I do know to this role.”
But that won’t be the only challenge Krueger faces in her now-permanent position with the city. Having just completed the city’s 2022 budget, which was passed with a historically high 7.6 per cent tax-levy increase, Krueger is keenly aware that Stratford, like many other municipalities across the province, must continue balancing the need to save money to pay for the projected costs of infrastructure maintenance and replacement over the next 10 years with a desire by council to mitigate the impacts of annual levy increases on taxpayers.
“That’s not really unique to Stratford. It’s going on all across the province and the country for that matter,” Krueger said. “It’s something that, prior to having to plan for asset replacements that were previously funded by upper levels of government, wasn’t something that cities were really thinking about back in the ’70s, ’80s or even before that.
“I really just consider my role as that of an information provider. We, as a city … are in the business of providing services and really it’s just about making sure everybody’s clear about what the costs of those services are.”
As Krueger continues to address the financial hardships left in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and looks ahead at leading and strengthening Stratford’s finance, treasury, tax, payroll, purchasing, clerk’s and IT divisions over the coming months and years, she said she’s confident knowing she has a team of dedicated city staff behind her.
“Karmen has done outstanding work under challenging circumstances as acting director of corporate services and we look forward to her leadership in this crucial position,” Stratford’s top administrator, Joan Thomson, said in a press release.