David Trawin has just completed his first year as chief administrative officer for the City of Kamloops. The self-described “numbers guy” previously worked for the City of Terrace and in the private sector in Florida, where he attended university on a soccer scholarship. Dave Eagles/KTW
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AVID TRAWIN doesn’t think in highlights. That might not normally be an issue but, as Kamloops’ latest chief administrative officer begins his second year on the job, council members and media alike have asked him to pick out his favourite moment from year one. “Maybe it’s a flaw of mine or not, but I don’t think like that,” Trawin said. “I think of what things I want to get done. So, fine, that’s fixed, bang. What else can we get done? I never really reflect on that.” It’s perhaps fitting for someone whose favourite way of describing himself and his plans for the organization he now heads is some variation on “process.” On the differences between himself and former CAO Randy Diehl: “I’m more of a numbers guy. Randy wasn’t. He was more of a big-picture guy.”
By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
On why he wanted the job: “I thought I could help with moving the city forward and with the process side of things.” Originally from the Interior, an NCAA soccer scholarship took Trawin to Florida Atlantic University in the 1980s for undergrad and a master’s degree in urban planning. But, a after few years working in Sunshine State, Trawin decided he preferred his home province and headed back north. “Florida’s OK to live,” he said, “for a bit.” Trawin also opted to leave behind private-sector work in favour of local government. “As a hired gun in the private sector, you do some things which, in my view, aren’t the best in terms of planning,” he said. A planning-department job, he said, was a chance to
“build communities.” A job heading up Terrace’s development and engineering department led to the same position in Kamloops. Then, in May 2012, the spot as the city’s top staff member. Since becoming CAO, changes at city hall have kept Trawin busy with his focus on process. When hiring new public works director Tracy Kyle, Trawin said he was looking for someone less “project-oriented” than former director David Duckworth (who made a job switch of his own last year, to director of community and corporate services), who could focus on working with staff to make the operation more efficient. A department shuffle took city finance director Sally Edwards off the IT beat, giving her more time to focus on the city’s budgeting and buying process. That particular focus on process paid off.
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Police probe homicide walking path underKamloops Mounties continue video-online] neath the north end of Overlanders to investigate a murwww.kamloopsthisweek.com Bridge at about 7:45 der after a man’s p.m. body was found on “Investigators a North Shore walkarrived at the scene of a ing path on Thursday, June 27. deceased male and it is being RCMP Cpl. Cheryl Bush treated as a homicide investigasaid police were called by the tion at this point,” she said. B.C. Ambulance Service after paramedics found the body of a 32-year-old Kamloops man on a X See POLICE A4
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