Jeff Fielding named as new City of Calgary manager

Jeff Fielding has been named the City of Calgary's new manager. 

Fielding is currently the city manager in Burlington, Ont. He has held similar posts with a couple of other Ontario cities and worked in Calgary's planning department more than a decade ago.

Fielding describes himself as a fiscal conservative and supports the city's plan to better manage its growth.

“There's going to have to be an accommodation of more intensification and infill development and I think you'll also see that we have to accommodate some people on the periphery," he said.

"In the short run, suburbs are still part of what we have to do and do them well, but in the longer run, I think we're looking at ways to accommodate the population that's different that we do it and have done for the last 20 years.”

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it was an international job search.   

“It really showed that extremely good, extremely high quality people want to be in Calgary, that this is an extremely coveted job," said Nenshi.

"That Calgary is, in fact, the place to be. I should mention as well that we had outstanding applicants from closer to home, including some very, very strong internal candidates.”

Fielding, who will start June 2, replaces Owen Tobert who retired earlier this year.

His four-year contract is worth $315,000 a year.