Sunday, 26 May 2013

Moment with the Mayor: The First Six Months


Hi Everyone:

It is hard to believe that the election was about six months ago. In many respects it seems like a lifetime ago. Since then I have learned a lot and realize I have a lot more to learn. For the record I have made mistakes, but I am learning from them.

In the past few months changes have been implemented and are ongoing. I campaigned on responsible change and that is the path I have been trying to follow. Here are some of the changes.

Open Meetings:

·         Our public meetings have much material and last longer. According to Councillor Biberdorf the Open Meetings have gone from 45 minutes in the past to 2 hours and more.

·         More information and decisions are made in public: the water safety report, finances, budget, and many other items not related to labour, land, and legal are now in the Open Meeting.

Governance:

·         We are focused on governance. As an example we are working with Administration to have their reports be much more outcome oriented.

·         One of the challenges is to find the right line between being good governance leaders rather than managing the Town.

·         We are trying to move towards a strategic long term plan for the community.

This coming weekend Council will be having a retreat discussing:

·         The Official Community Plan leading to Strategic planning;

·         Improvements to governance;

·         The budget process;

·         Human Resources.

This week I am in Humboldt at the Municipal Infrastructure Conference where I have been asked to make a presentation. I will share details of the presentation later.

Recently I met with a potential partner for Phase 2 of our multi use facility. It was a good meeting but it is good to be patient as we work out what the partnership will look like. We have been looking for potential partners for Phase 2 to help make the facility feasible and sustainable.

It has been two months since my wife’s accident. Thank you for your enquiries, kindness and prayers; we appreciate them very much. Annette is improving but still has not had a headache free day. Her vision and hearing are still a problem as well.

In the next week or two I will be launching a website to better communicate what is happening. I have moved away from Facebook because it was very time consuming. I will let you know the web address when everything is ready to go.

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. I appreciate your feedback.

Have a good week!

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