New Westminster has a new corporate officer at city hall – after a year of temporary personnel at the head of the legislative services department.
On April 8, city council unanimously voted in favour of appointing Hanieh Berg as the City of New Westminster’s corporate officer, effective April 22.
“The selection committee, led by the chief administrative officer, interviewed a number of candidates for this position,” said a report to council. “Hanieh Berg was considered to have the greatest depth of experience, and represent the most appropriate fit, for the corporate officer position in New Westminster.”
Berg’s past roles have included serving as deputy city clerk in the City of Delta and acting manager of legislative services in the City of Richmond.
When Berg takes on her new role with the City of New Westminster, it will mark the fourth person to have served as city clerk or acting corporate officer in the past year.
In May 2023, council designated Peter Dejong as the city’s acting corporate officer, after longtime city clerk Jacque Killawee temporarily took on a one-year reassignment as the city’s records and information officer.
Killawee, however, left her job with the City of New Westminster in December 2023 to take on a new job with Metro Vancouver.
Dejong, who had been appointed as the acting corporate officer from May 1, 2023 to March 2, 2024, left the city in February.
Since Dejong’s departure, Dennis Back has been serving as the interim corporate officer (city clerk).
According to the job posting, the corporate officer oversees the legislative services department. The job includes a number of roles, including:
- Ensuring the effective and efficient delivery of the city’s political administration with city council, committees, staff and the public.
- Helping provide governance procedures at city council meetings and council committee meetings.
- Managing the administration and logistics of city council and council committee meetings.
- Conducting research and policy analysis, writing council reports and providing legislative and procedural advice to council, senior staff, and the public.
- Maintaining a corporate record of council, public hearing, and committee meeting minutes, policies, city bylaws and contracts.
- Providing advisory services to the chief administrative officer, senior staff, and council in matters relating to Freedom of Information (FOI), and corporate records management and document control, including the city’s electronic data management system (EDMS).
- Overseeing the administration of municipal elections.
- Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with council, senior management, staff, and the public.
- Leading and managing the legislative services team, including the deputy corporate officer, FOI and privacy coordinator, records analyst, committee clerks and other supporting roles, within a unionized environment.
