The City of Lacombe is pleased to welcome their new Director of Community Services Deborah Juch, who started her new position on November 1st.

Raised in Calgary with a father in the military, Juch started her municipal government experience on Vancouver Island after finishing high school there.

For the last seven years, however, she worked as the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the MD of Opportunity No. 17 in northern Alberta before relocating to Lacombe.

Juch says she's still getting herself familiar with the city and her new responsibilities but has plenty of resources to work with.

“I have a great opportunity to work alongside the current Director (Brenda Vaughn) for about a month, so obviously I want to learn everything I can from her, and carry on her good work as well as investigate new opportunities. I’m doing a Master in Business Administration, and community economic development is the theme of that Masters. So I’ll be looking for economic development and community development opportunities.”

Juch says she’s impressed by the level of civic engagement here.

“There is a lot of volunteerism, there is a lot of societies, people are very concerned that services, especially community services, are fulsome and wide-ranging, and they come out to make sure that happens. There’s a stronger sense of community here then I’ve experienced on Vancouver Island, it’s wonderful.”

She also talked about how much she loved downtown Lacombe and all the work that went into preserving our cities heritage.