Operations manager Patrick Pulak leaving city

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This article was published 13/06/2025 (286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a 36-year career, ranging from summer student to the City of Brandon’s general manager of operations, Patrick Pulak is leaving his job.

“I’ve enjoyed my 36 years with the City of Brandon — it’s going to be sad to go,” said Pulak during Monday evening’s council meeting.

Pulak is being replaced by Todd Burton, who has spent 15 years working with the city, most recently as its director of innovation, technology and communications. His first day in the new role is Monday.

Last Monday’s meeting ended with council giving Pulak a standing ovation, sitting him down in the mayor’s chair and placing the mayor’s chain of office around his neck. Pulak then posed for a photo with council.

“This is like a second home to me at this point, so I’ve enjoyed working for the city for this long, and I consider most of you my friends,” he said to a laugh from councillors.

The general manager of operations is responsible for the city’s transportation services, parks and recreation, public works and underground utilities.

In an interview with the Sun on Friday, Pulak said it “feels a bit surreal” that it has already been 36 years with the city and he’s moving on.

“Until I walk out of here for the last time, I don’t know if it’ll fully occur to me that I’m done here,” he said. “It’s second nature to get up every morning and come to work.”

He said he’s happy with what he has done over his career.

“I’m happy I made it this far. I remember starting my first couple of years here, and now, it’s just hard to believe. I don’t know where all that time went.”

Pulak said he’s moving to work in the same job, with the same title, for the City of West Kelowna, B.C., for the next three to five years. Then he will move back to the city he has called home since he was a kid, he added.

He said former Brandon city manager Ron Bowles asked him to come work with him in West Kelowna, where Bowles is the chief administrative officer, and that it wasn’t as easy decision to make. He said his wife retiring from teaching made it an easier decision and that it was “time for a change.”

He said while there, he will be representing Brandon as much as he can.

“I’ll be wearing Brandon T-shirts, I’ll be handing out Brandon pins,” said Pulak. “I’ve reached out to Chez Angela’s, where we got a couple of their T-shirts, and we’re going to be wearing those in West Kelowna.

“I am passionate about the city, so that’s what I want people to know.”

He said he’ll also be playing a lot of golf, just like he does now, and that once his time in West Kelowna is done, he will move back to Brandon and play even more golf.

He will miss the people most, he said, adding that whenever he had to hire people to work in the city, he didn’t sell them on the job, but instead on what the city has to offer and the people who live here.

“Throughout the city, I can walk into any store in Brandon and know somebody, and I’m going to miss that, those connections that we’ve made, and that’s part of the reasons we’re coming back.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said Pulak and his “enormous amount of institutional memory” will be missed.

“We’re going to miss him as a person,” said Fawcett. “He’s leaving the city in a good place. He’s not abandoning the city, he’s retiring and leaving it in a good place.”

Fawcett said Pulak has done a lot of good work for the city over the 36 years he spent working there.

“We’re always grateful for the people that are here, and they do their jobs,” he said. “When they’re done, you move on to the next thing, and you certainly appreciate more the ones that have left you in really good spots.”

Fawcett said Pulak gave notice ahead of time that he was leaving, which gave the city time to find his replacement.

Pulak’s last in-person day with the city is June 20, although his last official day is the 27th.

» alambert@brandonsun.com