Mayoral candidate Barb Higgins fields questions from reporters on Friday about her decision to switch campaign managers. (CBC)

Barb Higgins has a new campaign manager.

The mayoral candidate dumped Donn Lovett and picked up veteran Progressive Conservative organizer Alan Hallman, she said Friday.

Lovett is still a supporter, and will take on a yet-to-be-determined lesser role in her campaign, Higgins said.

"He was trying to run a company as well as our campaign, and things were falling through the cracks," said Higgins.

"We had volunteers coming up and saying 'I'm contacting your office and nobody's getting back to me.' We were just scrambling to keep up and scrambling to keep up, and it became a frustration for everyone here."

Hallman's is a familiar name to political observers in Alberta.

He has worked on campaigns for former Alberta premier Ralph Klein and Calgary Centre MP Lee Richardson, among others.

"It's a new direction and it's much more organized, as of yesterday. The last 24 hours have been pretty chaotic around here, but in a good way, in that everybody's feeling on track … and we're ready to go," said Higgins, a former TV news anchor.

Lovett made a 'tactical error'

Higgins also missed a mayoral forum at the Economics Society of Calgary on Friday, something she blamed on a "miscommunication."

"We dropped the ball, internally, here," she said.

Lovett told CBC News he is taking full responsibility for what he calls a "tactical error" with the Higgins campaign.

He and other key staffers decided Higgins needed to go to fewer forums and instead get out and meet more people, Lovett said.

He also said his error meant that other people's trust in him took a hit, and that a new coach was needed.

The municipal election is on Oct. 18.