Portage la Prairie's new finance director is settling in, after serving about four months in the role. Amanda Watson's the city's Director of Finance and Deputy City Manager, and says she's really enjoying her time in the new role. She grew up and worked in Alberta for most of her life, but says Portage certainly has a sense of familiarity. She grew up in a small community outside of a city about the size of Portage, making the move to Portage an easy transition.

"As I went into a career I moved to Edmonton and Calgary, and found those cities to be very large. I like the smaller city, and I like what Portage has to offer. I think there's a great opportunity here in some of the forward movement I see people within the community trying to make to help Portage grow."

Watson's previously working with corporate finances for several organizations, as well as with the federal government. She says this is her first experience working at the municipal level, and the city staff have played an integral role in her transition. She says the fact she didn't have any experience working with a municipal government was one of the reasons she applied for the role here in Portage.

"When I applied for the position, I was really excited about the municipal opportunity because I don't come to this position with a lot of municipal experience. That was something I was looking to gain for myself, but I also saw a lot of variety in the position, and I felt that would be a good fit for me."

She says the last four months have exceeded her expectations, adding she's learned so much during that time. Watson says one of the aspects that keeps the job exciting is that she's consistently working in two different years. She notes while they're currently working within the 2016 budget, the 2017 budget process is also underway. Watson faced a whirlwind start in her new role, coming as the city was working on the 2016 budget. She notes now that the 2016 budget's passed, she's able to pursue her true passion.

"The first couple of months I was really diving into the position and figuring out what was going on. I came right as we were calculating the mill rate, so that was a big task. Now that I'm kind of slowing down in the work, I'm spending a lot of my time skydiving."

She's looking forward to the next four months, noting within her eight months she'll have witnessed a full budget year.