In a world where politicians are often the ones making headlines, it’s easy to forget that it’s the people behind the scenes that are the backbone of every successful organization and Beryl Cahill is no exception.
After 35 years working for the municipality, Cahill is set to retire as the town’s longest-serving municipal staff member at the end of January and if she had it her way she’d leave just as quietly as she carried out her job.
“It was a pleasure coming in the door every morning, it really was,” said Cahill, reflecting on her career as the town’s administrative officer.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Despite her plans to retire, Cahill said she has no plans to leave Jasper and intends to continue working as a marriage commissioner for the foreseeable future.
Cahill’s story, like that of so many Canadians, begins overseas with her former husband in the small town of Stockport, south of Manchester, England.
Faced with the prospect of having to move to London or Yorkshire if they wanted to keep their jobs with a television studio, the newly married couple decided that if they were going to move they were going to try something completely new.
As fate would have it a Canadian immigration officer happened to be in town.
At the persistence of her husband, Cahill reluctantly agreed to pay the officer a visit and before they could think otherwise they were both given a one way ticket to Edmonton in 1967–Canada’s centennial year.
“Canada was crying out for people,” said Cahill. “They even paid for us to travel and we paid them back over a period of two years.”
Soon after arriving in Edmonton, Cahill took a job with Dominion Bridge Steel Company as a secretary for the general manager, while her husband was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Company as an electronics engineer.
After working for a couple years with Dominion Bridge she took a short break before landing a job with the Alberta Securities Commission in 1971.
About three years into her new job, her husband was offered a job in Jasper as an electronics technician, which would ultimately change the course of both of their lives.
Following her husband to Jasper, Cahill left the Alberta Securities Commission and moved to Jasper in 1974 to become Jasper’s provincial court administrator and a justice of the peace (JP).
“We came on holidays to Jasper in 1969, so that was the first time we had ever seen the mountains and we were absolutely blown away by it, but there wasn’t any thought of moving here,” said Cahill, who has been with her new partner Ian Howard for more than 20 years.
As the local JP for Jasper, Cahill spent 25 years scrutinizing bail applications, often waking up in the middle of the night to decide whether someone was a risk to the public or not and even recalled having prisoners brought to her front door when she was in her pajamas. She was also responsible for approving local search warrants.
Both of those responsibilities moved to Edmonton in 1997 and Cahill retired as a JP in August 2016.
As Jasper’s provincial court administrator Cahill would occasionally travel to Hinton, Grand Cache and Edson as part of her duties.
However, in 1981 the provincial government opted to centralize court services in Hinton, which would have required Cahill to pack up her bags and pull her 11-year-old daughter out of school, an option she ultimately turned down.
Looking for a new opportunity, she quickly landed a job with the Jasper School District #3063 in 1981 as the confidential secretary to the superintendent and secretary treasurer.
Her role at the time was to support the superintendent and collect taxes on behalf of other government agencies that provided services in Jasper, such as the Evergreens Foundation and Parks Canada.
For the better part of the next 15 years, Cahill and three others were kept busy collecting taxes and supporting the community’s “soft services,” such as the Jasper Activity Centre and Community and Family Services.
All of that changed in 1995 when former premier Ralph Klein decided to amalgamate school boards across the province.
In very short order the Jasper School District was amalgamated with the Grande Yellowhead Regional Division, which included schools in Edson, Hinton, Grande Cache and Jasper. Today the school division is called the Grand Yellowhead Public School Division (GYPSD).
The amalgamation essentially left Jasper’s status as a community up in the air throwing into question how the town was going to continue to operate without any financial resources.
“In September 1995 when the schools were amalgamated we didn’t know whether we would have jobs because we didn’t have any money,” said Cahill.
Recognizing Jasper’s unique situation, located in a national park, the provincial government designated Jasper as a specialized improvement district later that year and gave the community startup money to keep its services afloat.
“The government didn’t know what to do with us,” recalled Cahill, who became the administrative officer for the Jasper Improvement District in 1995.
“I think eventually they realized we collected taxes and who else was going to collect taxes on their behalf? You still had to pay your taxes whether the schools were amalgamated with Grande Yellowhead or not, so we continued collecting taxes as the improvement district,” said Cahill.
The Jasper Improvement District would remain in place until 2001 when the Jasper Town Committee signed a deal with Parks Canada for Jasper to become incorporated–subject to the community ratifying it through a vote.
On July 19, 2001, 74 per cent of residents voted in favour of local government and on July 20, the province, by order of council, established the Municipality of Jasper.
“I was skeptical about whether it would go through,” said Cahill, referring to a similar vote for autonomy in 1986, which was rejected by the community.
With a vote in favour of local government, the municipality officially began to take over municipal services the following year in April 2002.
“It all seems like a blur to me now,” said Cahill, who has been Jasper’s chief electoral officer for the past 21 years, including the plebiscite in 2001.
“Every time we had a municipal election or a plebiscite, like the smoking bylaw, I would conduct that vote.”
Sixteen years later the municipality has only become stronger with defined departments to take care of everything from garbage and recycling to the town’s roads and sewers.
While Cahill intends to retire at the end of the month, she won’t be gone for good.
To soften the blow of her departure she has offered to remain available on a contract basis until this time next year and help with the next municipal election in October.
“I have no hesitation in saying the past 35 years have been just amazing,” said Cahill, who has plans to travel to the Canary Islands or Malta with her sister next year.
During the municipal Christmas party, Mayor Richard Ireland heaped praise on Cahill’s contribution to the community over the past 35 years.
“It’s impossible to accurately express Beryl’s extraordinary contribution to our organization,” said Ireland.
“From her preferred position in the back ground she has been council’s right arm; she makes arrangements, she keeps the calendars, she does the agenda, she takes the minutes, she organizes committees, she handles correspondence. She’s one-stop shopping.”
He lamented about what the municipality will do without her corporate knowledge and praised her for her impeccably high standards for herself and her department over the years.
“We will suffer for the knowledge with which she departs, but what we will miss is a truly remarkable woman; a co-worker, a confidant, a role model, a friend. We should all strive to be more like Beryl.”
Paul Clarke
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