Moment with the Mayor: Official Community Plan & Needs and Operational Assessment Phase 2

Hi Everyone, welcome to the first ‘Moment with the Mayor.’ Thanks go to Harland for offering this space to talk with you about happenings with the Town and around our community. This is a weekly endeavor and I will be writing about a variety of topics of interest to all of us.

It has been two and a half months since we have been sworn in as Council. We have been busy and made some changes. Most of the changes have been small but a difference. An example of one of the changes is the shortening of the working session with more information and discussion in the public session.

There are two exciting things going on from my perspective: the work on the new Official Community Plan and the Needs and Operational Assessment for the next phase of the multi-use facility.

The adoption of the new Official Community Plan is going to spark a flurry of activity on our part. Once it is approved, including more feedback from you, we are going to develop a 5 year strategic plan to guide this Council over the rest of our term and provide guidance for the first year of the next Council. Once the strategic plan is in place it will guide the operations of the Town to ensure all aspects of Town, from budget to human resources are aligned to fulfill our objectives.

The second item we are busy with, and you will be hearing much more about, is the Needs and Operational Assessment for the next phase of the multi-use facility. We have a lot of aspirations and concerns regarding our future and this initiative is a sober and reflective way to discern the best way to move forward. Group 2 is an architecture firm out of Saskatoon, with family links in Kindersley, who will be working to understand our needs and aspirations and align them with what we can afford.

For this assessment to be accurate we need as much participation as possible. For example: the Senior’s Club may want to participate to determine if the water tank should be a walk in like a lake so there aren’t stairs; basketball, what type of flooring is best for your league; hockey, is there a need for ball hockey space; swimming, what do you anticipate for the club? There are a lot of questions that need answering. If we don’t have answers, which only come through your participation, then the results may be skewed and we can’t make the best decision for Kindersley and our neighbours in West Central Saskatchewan.

Speaking of our neighbours: we need your help. You come into town to shop, take your children to their recreation and arts events; what would you like to see? Talk to us. With new housing coming, more commercial and industrial land available, and with this phase, we are growing and we can be the prairie oasis for West Central Saskatchewan.

To make the best decisions possible we need to talk with one another to understand what our needs and aspirations are and of course, what we can afford.

Thanks for taking a peek at a Moment with the Mayor and drop and line and let me know what you are thinking.