Stephane Labonne poses with retiring CAO Andrew Isbister in this Morinville News file photo. Labonne served his first Council meeting Apr. 10.
by Tristan Turner
Morinville’s council has had their first official public council meeting with their new Chief Administrative Officer, Stephane Labonne. Labonne was recently appointed by council after a long process examining potential candidates. Labonne brings almost 22 years of local government experience, having served recently as the CAO of the Town of Hinton, and prior to that, General Manager with Sturgeon County overseeing land-use planning, engineering, economic development and intergovernmental affairs. He also spent more than 10 years working for the City of Edmonton.
Labonne is replacing former CAO Andrew Isbister, who filled the role since 2016, after replacing former CAO Debbie Oyarzun. Isbister had long planned his retirement in 2018, and council had a heartfelt farewell to Isbister for his service at their last meeting of council.
Labonne has already made one notable change to council procedures at his first meeting, opting to include all noteworthy correspondence sent to council in their regular agenda package in an effort to “be more transparent… and ensure we all have the same information.”
