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The city has decided to part ways with its chief administrative officer, Calgary’s mayor said Wednesday, while another of its top bureaucrats announced his retirement this year.
At a press conference, Mayor Jeromy Farkas announced city council and CAO David Duckworth have “mutually agreed” to part ways.
“This is a steady and planned transition,” Farkas said. “It comes at a time when there is a great deal of important work underway across the city.”
Dec. 1 will be Duckworth’s last day, Farkas said. If a replacement is found before then, he added, then Duckworth will move into an advisory role to support the transition.
“I want to thank CAO Duckworth for his service to Calgarians for about seven and a half years in this capacity,” Farkas said.
Stuart Dalgleish is retiring as the city’s chief operating officer on June 12. (City of Calgary)
Duckworth also announced that chief operating officer Stuart Dalgleish is retiring. His last day will be June 12, and an interim replacement for Dalgleish will be named “very soon,” Duckworth said.
The transition will see two of Calgary’s most experienced bureaucrats leave their positions in the span of a year, as a relatively new council deals with updates to major infrastructure and a growing population.
“To lose both senior officials is a pretty dramatic change,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University.
“You lose a lot of institutional leadership and memory when you have your top people leaving,” she said, adding with an inexperienced council, leadership changes could cause instability.
Decades of experience
Between the two of them, Duckworth and Dalgleish have more than 60 years of experience in the civil service.
Duckworth joined the City of Calgary in 2018, after spending more than 27 years working with municipalities in British Columbia. He previously served as Calgary’s utilities and environmental protection general manager before being promoted to city manager.
In 2023, Duckworth divided the role into two, becoming the CAO, while Dalgleish was promoted to COO.
Duckworth was also one of city hall’s highest paid officials, with a salary of $450,000 in 2025. He faced pressure late last year ahead of a performance review in the aftermath of last December’s second major water main break in two years.
WATCH | CAO David Duckworth faced a performance review in January:
Calgary’s top bureaucrat under pressure at city hall
Calgary city council has started the process of a performance review for Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth. This comes on the heels of the second major water main break in less than two years.
Speaking Wednesday on CBC Radio’s Alberta at Noon, Farkas said the city has “great confidence in [Duckworth] executing on this replacement of the feeder main.”
“Under his leadership, and the broader team he’s been able to assemble, we’re going to be able to get that done by Dec. 1, so it was really critical to have that stability and continuity there,” he said.
Duckworth described his time as CAO as the “honour” of his life and the “pinnacle” of his career.
“It’s been a privilege to be the city’s chief administrative officer,” he said.
Dalgleish joined the city in 1988 as an intern, and held various roles throughout his tenure, most recently as general manager of planning & development services prior to becoming COO.
“My 37 years at the city have been more than a career — they’ve reflected a personal calling and proud commitment to public service,” Dalgleish said in a city statement.
“I am grateful to the people and teams, whether internal or external to the city, with whom I have had the privilege of working with and serving Calgarians together, and from whom I was fortunate to learn and become a better person,” he added.
Changes not all bad
Williams said while losing Duckworth and Dalgleish could be disruptive, the change also presents an opportunity for renewal, and could address previous concerns regarding communication between city council and senior administration officials.
“We did hear during the [municipal] election some concerns about whether the senior bureaucrats at city hall were reporting sufficiently to city council,” she said.
Lori Williams is a political science professor with Mount Royal University in Calgary. She says the changes to city leadership could provide council with an opportunity for renewal. (Scott Dippel/CBC)
“This may or may not address some of those considerations or concerns.”
The fact that council is announcing the changes early and Duckworth is staying on until work on the water main is complete is also a positive sign, she said.
“I think it’s good that there’s this co-operative and continuity-based approach to the transition,” Williams said.