Rosetown welcomes new chief administrator

By Ian MacKay

Damon Werrell took over as the town's chief administrator this week.

A former inspector with the RCMP, Werrell was hired away from Delisle, where he had served as the chief administrative officer since June 2024. He observed councillors during their meeting last Tuesday, held then instead of Monday due to the Victoria Day holiday.

Handshake on Main. Rosetown Mayor Trevor Hay (left) welcomes new chief administrator Damon Werrell outside the town office following Tuesday's council meeting. Werrell stepped into the role Monday after roughly two years as CAO in Delisle. PHOTO BY IAN MACKAY

Amanda Bors had worked as acting chief administrator since Darcy Olson resigned in October.

Werrell was with the RCMP for 23 years, retiring in 2024 after serving in 11 communities in two provinces and the Northwest Territories, he said in an interview after the meeting.

He was the inspector of the Thompson, Man., detachment when he retired and his time in RCMP upper management served him well in the transition to municipal administration, "especially in dealing with the public and the leadership skills," Werrell said.

"Really, it was about learning municipal governance and, once I got past that hurdle, I think it was a good fit," he said.

He graduated from high school in Cupar and "always wanted to come back to Saskatchewan but, unfortunately, the RCMP didn't have those plans for me," he said.

He and his wife Jennifer have three hockey-playing sons in their early teens, wanted to live close to a city and chose "a good hockey town" in Delisle, he said.

"I was looking for a bit more challenge, the opportunity in Rosetown came up and that's what brought us to Rosetown," Werrell said.

They'd mostly lived in isolated, fly-in Indigenous communities with the RCMP.

"That's where I really thrived and I enjoyed policing because you get to join the community, be part of the community and make something better than when you arrived," he said. "That's what I enjoyed about those more difficult, hardship communities.

"Rosetown's a great town and I'm looking forward to starting here," Werrell added.