Calgary city council and its only employee, Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth, will part ways, after months of speculation that his job was in jeopardy in the fallout from the December 2025 Bearspaw south feeder main break.

Along with that, Chief Operating Officer Stuart Dalgleish will also be leaving his role.

Councillors were behind closed doors for nearly four hours Tuesday night to discuss the matter during a regularly scheduled update with the CAO at the April 28 Regular Meeting of Calgary city council.

Upon rise and report, the matter was kept confidential. A media advisory on Wednesday morning citing “City Council’s 2027-2030 priorities” was issued for a 10 a.m. news conference.

Duckworth’s job security has been the subject of considerable discussion in the aftermath of the Dec. 30 Bearspaw South feeder main break, which was the second such rupture in 18 months. After the release of the Bearspaw South feeder main independent review panel report, which showed a pattern of years of neglect, many city councillors sought a scapegoat.

Back in January, Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean suggested that the city was looking at a culture change to avoid continuing a culture that led to the Bearspaw infrastructure failures.

“I guess if you’re going to have culture change, you’re going to need to have change in administration,” McLean said at the time.

Still, at the Wednesday media conference, both Duckworth and Mayor Farkas said that this was a mutual decision and that it was a planned leadership transition. Duckworth’s final day will be Dec. 1, unless a suitable candidate is found earlier.

“I want to thank David for his leadership and for his service to Calgary during an important period for the city,” said Mayor Farkas.

“This is a steady and planned transition. It comes at a time when there is a great deal of important work underway across the city, from advancing the new feeder main and strengthening our water system to managing complex challenges and continuing to deliver essential services.”

Mayor Farkas said that given there was a new city council, the Bearspaw replacement would be done in December, it was an ideal window for Duckworth to depart.

“This is a natural transition of leadership. We have a brand new city council, a brand new four-year plan. We’re going into a new four-year budget,” he said.

“The reason that we chose December 1 was a show of confidence in the work that’s being done to be able to address the issues around the independent panel report, as well as the Bearspaw feeder main. We wanted to do this in a structured, stable way so that we can provide the continuity and the ultimate execution of that brand new replacement for the feeder main on December 1.”

Duckworth is leaving roughly eight months ahead of the end of his current contract. His severance will be 16 months, the mayor confirmed. The CAO’s annual salary as of 2025 was $410,000.

Decision was months in the making: Duckworth

Back in a February Executive Committee meeting, a more prescriptive CAO reporting was approved by councillors. This decision came after one of the regular updates.

Duckworth’s message aligned with the mayor’s, that it was a strategic, planned transition of leadership.

“I felt before, it’s important for me to exit this organization to provide leadership stability, to get council through their budget process, to help with the recruitment of a new Chief Administrative Officer,” he said.

“And, of course, look forward to December 1, when we expect to have the Bearspaw replacement main in place. So again, this is a planned transition that I’ve had many months of discussions with council.”

Many in the public have blamed Duckworth, who has served as city manager / CAO since 2019, for the Bearspaw failures. While Duckworth had served as the general manager of utilities and environment for a year before his city manager role, the panel report said the water infrastructure issues went back more than two decades.

Frustration over the CAO role has simmered for some time, going back to an increase of 36 per cent in the CAO pay bands, leading to a substantial salary increase for the position. Eventually, that led to Calgary city councillors taking action to create more transparency around the CAO salary and how it is publicly disclosed.

Duckworth said that serving the City of Calgary for the past seven years – which is double the typical span of a CAO – was the honour and privilege of a lifetime. He said most people can’t understand the intense scrutiny the 20,000 employees at the city are under to deliver services.

“If you look at the magnitude of the services that we deliver every single day, by and large, we get it right,” he said.

“Of course, there’s things that go wrong. The other thing that stands out in the course of when things do go wrong, my team steps up. They had face to where the danger is or where the problems are, we look to resolve it.”

The recruitment process will begin for the CAO position, with a terms of reference for the search coming some time in the next month. In the interim, Duckworth will serve as CAO and COO, taking on duties for both positions.

For his part, Dalgleish looked back on his nearly 40-year career at the City.

“My 37 years at The City have been more than a career – they’ve reflected a personal calling and proud commitment to public service,” said Dalgleish.

”I am grateful to the people and teams, whether internal or external to The City, with whom I have had the privilege of working with and serving Calgarians together, and from whom I was fortunate to learn and become a better person. I’m confident our City team is well positioned to work towards an always bright and better future for Calgary.” 

Dalgleish’s last day will be June 12, 2026.