After filling the unexpectedly vacant role for eight months, Eddie Robar has been named Edmonton’s city manager.

“I’m truly humbled by the support I’ve received in the first eight months that I’ve been here,” Robar said during a news conference Thursday morning.

“Doing this endorsement put me in that place where I knew it was something I wanted to explore and continue to do. And I’m excited about it. I am excited about the opportunity that awaits us. I’m not naïve about the challenges they present, but I look forward to meeting council’s goals and trying to get a better place for the people of Edmonton.”

Robar became interim city manager in the spring when the former city manager for three years Andre Corbould has left the post.

Edmonton City Council says it underwent a rigorous search and hiring process for Corbould’s replacement, while Robar helped with budget deliberations, oversaw the Edmonton Jasper evacuation center and worked to build Edmonton’s reputation as a city of worth investing in.

It received unanimous support from the board.

“We all know we have some serious financial challenges in our city,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

“Eddie’s understanding of those challenges and the way the reports are presented to us with very solid and accurate information in a way that we can really dig into those challenges … I think that speaks to Eddie’s responsible leadership,” he said. Sohi said.

The mayor added: “I still think we are very rigid in our decision-making and quite bureaucratic in our decision-making and Eddie has shown through his past experience and also over the last seven months that there is a lot of room for innovation and a new way of get things done and make our organization more agile and responsive.”

Robar said his priorities were further reducing Edmonton’s roughly $20 million deficit, which used to be $48 million; exploring options to bring a potential 8.1 percent property tax increase below; and improving the city’s workplace culture.

Robar will be Edmonton’s fifth manager in 10 years.

Asked for details on Thursday about how Robar would be compensated if he left the job early, Sohi said: “Eddie is staying for the long term. He has no intention of leaving.”

Robar added: “My intention is to be here for a long time… My plan is to spend the rest of my career here.”

Robar has spent his entire professional career in municipal government, leading both the Edmonton and Halifax transit systems. In the most recent of his nine years with the City of Edmonton, he served as Deputy Director of City Operations.