BOWDEN -- Likely no one was happier to see town council choose a new chief administrative officer than Jacqui Molyneux, the town's chief financial officer (CFO).
Council formally chose Greg Skotheim for that post during its March 25 meeting. Skotheim has most recently been Didsbury's manager of public works and infrastructure.
Molyneux has served as acting CAO since former CAO James Mason went on medical leave in January 2018 as well as after he and the town parted ways in July 2018.
It's never been a role she wanted.
"(It's) not my forte. I like my numbers, I like the finance part of it. But when it comes to all the other stuff that goes with a CAO, not my (cup of tea)," she said during an interview with the Albertan.
"I don't like the evening meetings. I don't like the away meetings. The infrastructure stuff and that, I don't understand it. I don't want to understand it. It's not my forte.
"That sort of thing, it's just not who I am. I'm a numbers person and that's where I want to stay. I like what I do, I like doing my HR (human resources — dealing with staff), I like doing the budgets and working with numbers for the town and making everything work," she added.
In addition to serving as acting CAO all those months, Molyneux also continued in her job as CFO. That meant keeping all the books as well as helping council hammer out its 2019 budget.
She admitted all that was pretty stressful.
"There were some long days, there were a lot of missed lunches. But it's what I needed to do to keep the wheels rolling around here," Molyneaux said. "I had some good staff who helped me out."
After council passed a motion formally ratifying Skotheim's appointment, Coun. Wayne Milaney thanked Molyneaux for all her hard work.
"Mr. Mayor if I may, I know I echo the sentiments and the emotions of everybody on council. I know tonight we officially appointed a new CAO. But I don't think we can dig deep enough to thank Jacqui Molyneux for all she's done for us in the last months," he said.
"I don't think there are any words to express that. And I don't know. Maybe we'll take you out for supper or something. You've been very special.
"And our finances have never been in better shape. Our little town, there's very little tax base. What you've done for us to balance the books is very special. So thank you," Milaney said, prompting applause from fellow councillors.
"We'll dump the Gatorade over her," Coun. Paul Webb said, sparking loud laughter.
In football games, dumping Gatorade over the head coach is a tradition, especially when the team wins.
Mayor Robb Stuart echoed Milaney's praise during an interview with the Albertan.
"Jacqui has just been run off her feet -- especially in the last three months, doing budget and year end accounting," he said.
