Letter to the Clarion Editor: re May 7, 2014 editorial “Wait a minute…” Our Direction

Dear Sir:

How do we build a community and prepare for the future? We: listen, become informed, question, reflect, decide, and implement. Your Council has been working hard to listen to our neighbours and friends, learning about the wide range of issues and the best practices to address them, we ask questions of our neighbours, friends, other elected officials, experts, and Administration. We reflect and think upon what we have learned so we may decide on what may be the best way forward, and turn it over to Administration to implement. This is what Council does, or at least strives to do.

But for Kindersley to be healthy, vibrant, and dynamic, Kindersley needs residents who are positively engaged. Many people are positively engaged volunteering in a number of ways in a broad range of civic groups including: arts, culture, recreation, and social agencies. These groups are crucial to our quality of life. Without them Kindersley is not Kindersley but a series of water and sewer line connections with pavement on top.

Another part of a healthy and vibrant community is knowledgeable residents rightly informed about the issues and challenges of our community. Council and Administration have been working hard to provide accurate information through a variety of sources including: the Town website, my weekly column in the Bean, my blog, my regular radio feature, and advertorials in your paper and The Bean. We are not trying to deceive anybody about the facts or our direction, what we are doing, and we are not drunken sailors on shore leave. And yes, we are always working to improve our communication with our user groups and residents, and spend intelligently.

Sir, we are working for a Kindersley that is positively engaged building a socially and economically vibrant community. We are doing this by trying to build a family friendly multicultural community that is safe; an approachable, innovative, and fiscally responsible Council and Administration with a forward looking approach to recognizing and fostering opportunities, solutions, and wealth creation. What is the result of this hard work: hard work done by family, friends, neighbours, Council and Administration in Kindersley?

·         A community that is:

     ·         Beautiful – reflecting that which is best about our home;

     ·         Just – safe, secure and fair;

     ·         Fulfilling – with opportunities to invest in ourselves, family, and friends; and

     ·         Relational – with healthy relationships working and playing together.

This is ongoing work.

Our priorities for our term, to guide us as we work for Kindersley, include:

1.       Open Communication

2.       Financially Transparent

3.       Strategic Growth

4.       Reliable Infrastructure

5.       Organizational Effectiveness

Building on Kindersley's past, it is Council’s intent that with these 5 priorities we can move towards a positively engaged community that is family friendly and safe; with a proactive Council and Administration working to foster opportunities leading to a Kindersley that is beautiful, just, fulfilling, and relational.

Sir, your recent uninformed editorial erodes the foundation of a healthy engaged community. You and I are partners Sir, to inform our neighbours and friends to build a community that is beautiful, just, fulfilling, and relational. I am looking forward to working with you KGM.