Regina mayor says search for city manager continues

Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski speaks to reporters following Wednesday's council meeting. (CTV News)

Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski says the process of finding a new permanent city manager is moving along, with an update due in the near future.

“We’re going through a process here and more information should be coming out pretty quick here, I’d say in the next week or so,” Bachynski told reporters following Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Jim Nicol has been serving in the role of interim city manager since the termination of Niki Anderson in July 2025.

When asked why the hiring process has taken as long as it has, the mayor chalked it up to the process the city must follow.

“We have to go through committees of council on that, to agree on the process,” he explained. “It’s not that its taken this long, it’s that it takes this long.”

Deputy city manager, CFO leaving

As the City continues its search for a permanent replacement in the role of city manager, deputy city manager and Chief Financial Officer Daren Anderson is set to exit his position in the coming weeks.

Anderson gave notice of his resignation earlier this month.

• City of Regina CFO and deputy city manager resigning

Mayor Bachynski told reporters he’s sad to see Anderson leave his role given his experience and expertise but wished him “all the best” in his future endeavours.

“I’m going to miss him,” he said. “I just think about the work that we’ve accomplished at the audit and finance committee, specifically, really great information that we’ve been able to pull together.”

The mayor added that he’s confident that city administration will carry on with its duties in Anderson’s absence.

“We’ve been set up really well,” he said. “I think we’re on the right track, and we’ve got a lot of good information that we have set up on a regular cadence that we can make decisions on going forward.”

Anderson spent less than 16 months in the role after taking over from former deputy city manager Barry Lacey in January 2025.

During his tenure, council passed property tax increases of 7.3 per cent in 2025 and 10.9 per cent in 2026 – the two highest single-year increases in the city’s history.

With files from Donovan Maess