City hires new top administrator
Former GNWT deputy minister Sheila Bassi-Kellett to start in March
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, December 23, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The City of Yellowknife has hired Sheila Bassi-Kellett to serve as its next senior administrative officer starting in March.
The city made the announcement Wednesday afternoon in a news release after finalizing the paperwork.
The role is the top hired staff position at city hall, overseeing city operations and management and providing information and support to the mayor and council. She fills a vacancy created when Dennis Kefalas, after four years in the top post, moved back to director of public works, a position he had previously held.
"For me, this job is personal," Bassi-Kellett said in an interview Wednesday.
"I love Yellowknife, I've raised a family here, I'm a 30-year resident, I bring a combination of skills and experience I really hope will complement the leadership vision from council."
Mayor Mark Heyck said she has a long, positive record in the public sector.
"I think it's really positive that we found a local candidate that has very strong ties to the community," the mayor said Wednesday.
Her experience includes a stint as senior administrative officer of Tulita, a community of about 470 people in the Sahtu. Bassi-Kellett said she worked for about 25 years with the GNWT. She was assistant deputy minister with the Department of Municipal and Community affairs from 2006 to 2010 during a time when major changes to the way community governments are funded were underway. She was deputy minister of the Department of Human Resources from 2011 to 2014, overseeing transfer of federal positions to the territorial government as part of devolution.
Premier Bob McLeod fired her in August 2014, though the government was tight-lipped about why beyond a news release stating it was "without cause" and not related to her job performance. A media report at the time claimed she had been fired by the premier after then-Minister of Human Resources Tom Beaulieu threatened to resign if she wasn't fired over a hiring situation involving a candidate he preferred. Beaulieu called the report untrue on Wednesday.
Bassi-Kellett has most recently run a consulting firm in the city called Off Leash Consulting Ltd. that has worked with municipal, territorial, federal and indigenous governments on various public policy issues, a city news release stated.
