It has been a month since the Village of Valemount hired new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Tom Dall, and it has taken even less time for him to get down to business.

With more than 55 items to work on since joining the Village on February 1, Dall is busy, but enjoying his new life in Valemount.

Dall brings to the community more than seven years of CAO and town council experience through work in various towns.

“Tom is a previous CAO out of Telkwa, B.C. and has had a lot of experience, even as a councilor at one time, so we’re really pleased to have Tom on board,” said Mayor Bob Smith of the newest Village employee.

Dall moved from Telkwa with his wife after spending nearly three years as CAO. Prior to Telkwa, he spent four and a half years as a CAO in Whitten, B.C., and was on council for ten years in Tumbler Ridge while working in a coal mine before that.

“The reason we came to Valemount was to be closer to our family – our kids in Kamloops. We also have our retirement home down in the Caribou... so it was just to be closer to that, too. I have three kids and they are all grown up and left and working out of Kamloops. That was the main reason,” Dall said, adding that the job simply just worked out as a win-win situation.

Of Dall’s 55 items to work on, the completion of the water plant upgrade tops the list, as a $2.9 million dollar project. The downtown revitalization project is also a priority that was mostly finished when he arrived, with the final touches being made this spring.

Other bigger projects that are ongoing for Dall are two wildfire protection projects to clean up underbrush in the forest to help in the case of a wildfire, which are funded by federal government grants.

A seniors housing project of 10 units will also be built in the spring.

“So there is a lot of work to be done,” Dall said.

But work is something that Dall is used too, as is living in small communities.

“That’s what I enjoy working in because you get to know the community members really well. So I quite enjoy working in the smaller ones preferably compared to the bigger ones. Both my wife and I are just loving it here,” Dall said.

Dall said his wife plans to find work in Valemount as well, and he is sure she will in due time.

The couple loves the outdoors, including camping, hiking and fishing, all things that Valemount is known for. One thing he doesn’t do, Dall said, is snowmobiling, although he realizes it is a big part of the culture in Valemount and he is not against it.