Derrick Thomson (Photo provided by Bruce County)
The Chief Administrative Officer for Bruce County has announced he’ll be retiring at the end of this year.
CAO Derrick Thomson only took over the role in April of 2022, but it was the last step in a 43-year career in public service.
Thomson, who was originally born in Dundee, Scotland, started his lengthy career in an unlikely place – sharpening skates at an arena in Brampton back in 1980.
His first foray into public service with a municipality was as the CAO of the Town of West Lincoln, roughly 50 km from Niagara Falls.
From there, he moved on to Guelph, where he worked as an executive director, then deputy CAO, until he finally became CAO for the city.
The next stop was the Town of Minto, before finally relocating to Bruce County with his wife Andrea, and their children, Luke, who’s now 23, and Brynn, who’s 19.
Thomson has also decided that Bruce County will also be home after his retirement.
“When you love what you do, you really never consider it a job. It’s been really an honour and a privilege to serve the public, and the communities that I’ve been so very fortunate to have been able to serve.”
He says he’s hoping to be a part of the community by volunteering his time.
“It’s a little bit of a bittersweet moment for me in that this is sort of the end of my public service professionally, but I’m certainly hoping that I’ll be able to volunteer with the community that I live in and pay it back that way.”
He says in his time with Bruce County, there are many things that he’s proud to hang his hat on, including the implementation of the strategic plan.
Thomson says that he was happy to be involved with advocacy efforts for the county to get its fair share of both provincial and federal funding, and to announce the start of the community development office at the beginning of the month, which will oversee the affordable housing efforts.
He also says that his work wouldn’t have been possible without the colleagues he’s been able to work with every day.
“I’ve been very very lucky to have been blessed with a fantastic staff team. I can’t say enough about the staff at Bruce County right from our senior management team, right down to our frontline workers.”
Thomson’s last day will be December 15, 2023.