More will be coming

Hi: I have been very busy and will be posting more by midweek.

Council's SPA

Council often meets for SPA. SPA in this case is an acronym for a Council meeting with a: "Special Planning Agenda." A couple of Councillors dislike going on 'retreat.'

SPA is for strategic planning, growth planning, long-term financial planning, long-term infrastructure planning and more. The legislation says that they can only be used for long term planning and all remarks and comments are confidential.

I just hope we haven't put you off your own SPA.

What Makes a Great Town?

Did you know that by 2030 approximately 60% of the world's population will be living in cities? Are you aware that it is cities that are fuelling the historically unprecedented economic growth? And yes I am aware that it is from West Central Saskatchewan that supplies the oil and gas energy and the food for the cities. However, if we are to be a vibrant and sustainable community that flourishes in the future we need to be thoughtful and intentional.

Here are three things that Mayors from around the world agree that when done well enhance the social and economic well-being of a community. My notes below are based on a report from McKinsey & Company "How to Make a City Great"

1. Smart Growth: great communities identify and nurture opportunities for growth, plans to cope with challenges, integrates sustainable thinking, and ensures that all citizens participate in the creation of wealth. One other thing: a great community is conscious of its regional neighbours collaborating with them to ensure healthy growth.
2. Smart Spending: great communities secure all their revenue, seek out mutually beneficial partnerships, and ensure the organization reflects the goals of the community; it is lean with all aspects in alignment with the vision.
3. Accepting Change: some people embrace change and others are reluctant about change creating a tension between the change agents and the change resistors. Change requires confidence and this can be achieved through early wins and a team that is high performing forging a consensus with residents and businesses.

My time as mayor is limited: I will either retire or you will decide someone else will/can do a better job. As a result the provincial government encourages, and I affirm and am working towards, is long term planning to start a virtuous cycle leading to decision making that ensures Kindersley is socially and economically vibrant enabling all residents and businesses to flourish.

Types of Mayors

If you are wondering: the only constant these days is change. It doesn't matter in what walk of life, change is afoot. Similarly the Office of Mayor is changing as well and how individuals approach the Office.

There are many well-known mayors and each seems to have their own vision and values.

The Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, is someone I would consider a visionary with strong policy credentials and communication skills. He seems to be very community oriented in the sense of building a community of relationships.

The Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is different wherein he "sees New York as a corporation, city workers as talent, and the public as customers - and by and large New Yorkers love him for it."

However, back in 1892 the former mayor of Birmingham in England is different again and compared cities to a "joint stock or co-operative enterprise in which every citizen is a shareholder, and of which the dividends are receivable in the improved health and the increase of comfort and happiness of the community."

Here are some things that guide me as mayor from the Policy Manual and as mandated by provincial legislation:

E.O. The community of Kindersley exists so that its citizens enjoy a safe, attractive, vibrant, sustainable and environmentally friendly community for a reasonable investment.

GP.O The purpose of the Council, on behalf of the ratepayers of Kindersley, is to see to it that  the Town of Kindersley (a) achieves appropriate results for appropriate persons at an appropriate costs and (b) avoids unacceptable actions and situations.

GP.4. The Mayor, acts as Chair or Chief Governance Officer of the Council and as such is a specially empowered member of the Council who assures the integrity of the Council's process and, secondarily, represents the Council to outside parties.

Accordingly:

1.       The assigned result of the Mayor’s job is that the Council behaves consistently with its own rules and those legitimately imposed upon it from outside the organization...

2.       The authority of the Mayor consists in making decisions that fall within topics covered by Council policies on Governance Process and Council-Chief Administrative Officer Delegation, with the exception of (a) employment or termination of a Chief Administrative Officer and (b) where the Council specifically delegates portions of this authority to others. The Mayor is authorised to use any reasonable interpretation of the provisions in these policies...

 

3.       The Mayor is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the CAO employee file...

4.       The Deputy Mayor acts in the absence of the Mayor with all the authority accorded under this policy and the Municipalities Act.

After 10 months I have to say I have enjoyed being Mayor more than I thought I would. I am still learning and with Council, I believe we are headed down the right road. As for my style: it is a work in progress. I want Kindersley to have the four pillars of a community flourish. Those pillars include: culture, economics, education, and recreation. My hope is that Kindersley will "R.E.E.C. with Opportunities" resulting in a community whose residents and businesses flourish.

·         Recreation Opportunities

·         Economic Opportunities

·         Education Opportunities

·         Cultural Opportunities

 

Kindersley is not about shareholders and customers, I think Kindersley is about people working and playing together so all can flourish.

Governance Update

One of the commitments made by Council, and mandated by the Policy Manual, is to regularly review the policy manual. We have learning about municipal governance and reviewing our policy manual on a regular basis with a governance coach. The discussions have been interesting and sometimes are very precise about language.

Here are some of the changes we have been making.

·         Policy AL.2. Chief Administrative Officer Limitations, Treatment of Staff

Further, without limiting the scope of the foregoing by this enumeration, the Chief Administrative Officer shall not:

5. Prevent staff from appealing to the Council in writing when: (a) internal grievance procedures have been exhausted, and (b) the employee alleges either that Council policy has been violated to the employee's detriment. or that Council policy does not adequately protect the employee's legislated human rights.

·         The change was made to ensure that the relevant legislation is the first standard to be met.

Further, without limiting the scope of the foregoing by this enumeration, the Chief Administrative Officer shall not:

7. Fail to develop and foster means to recognize employee achievements.

·         This addition was made to ensure that excellence is recognized.

·         Policy AL.3. Chief Administrative Officer Limitations, Financial Condition and Activities

Further, without limiting the scope of the foregoing by this enumeration, the Chief Administrative Officer shall not:

5.  Make a single non-budgeted purchase over $10,000, with 1% of operating budget.

·         This was clarified to ensure that proper fiscal controls are in place and that both Council and the CAO are comfortable with this amount.

This review is ongoing and I will provide updates as we move along. The process is slow these changes are the result of an hour and half of discussions.

Great, and Reasonable, Expectations

When someone calls 911, there are expectations: One, that their plea for help will be responded to quickly and without delay; two, that the responders are professionals, fully trained in dealing with their emergency; and three, that once help arrives, prompt and reliable action will be taken.

One of the Fire Department's Command Vehicles

Saturday morning, August 31, 2013, at about 4:00 am, the Fire Department responded to an alarm at Kindersley Composite School (KCS). After phoning everyone on their list so they could gain access without success, they called me - my wife teaches at the school and has keys. Fortunately, it was only a malfunctioning alarm but, nonetheless, I learned a lot in my 2.5 hours with the crew at KCS, on top of what I have learned so far.

Our firefighters are professionals. They undertake a lot of training on an ongoing basis. Twice a month, they meet to train and review. The certifications our guys achieve are no different from the career firefighters in Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and other larger centres. What differentiates our firefighters from those larger centres? Commitment. Our guys, I believe, are more committed than the full time crews in larger centres. Why do I say this? Here are some reasons:

·         Who else leaves their job without permission of their boss to save a life or property?

·         Who else gives up time with their families and careers to train for emergency situations?

·         Who else gives up time with families and careers to respond to emergency situations?

·         Who else works all night responding to an emergency and then goes to their day job?

I firmly believe our guys are the best pros in the province, providing the best service they can with the resources they have. There are challenges:

·         There are employers who are understaffed and can't afford for their firefighter on staff to leave for an indeterminate period of time.

·         Employers have their own deadlines set by clients and need their staff to meet the deadlines.

·         Employers need staff whom are rested and can work all day without making mistakes due to fatigue.
 

Here is the tension our community is facing: Our businesses are facing deadlines, human resource shortages, and inconsistent attendance. It is understandable that they are reluctant to let their 'firefighting' staff go. However, if the Fire Department doesn't respond to emergencies, who does? Our Fire Department walks a fine line between responding to emergencies and supporting their families with their jobs and careers. So, what do we do? How do we ensure the safety of our residents, businesses, industries, and visitors while enabling our businesses and industries to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible?

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. You can also check out my blog at http://mayorjohn.blogspot.ca/. I appreciate your feedback.

Have a good week!

Water Treatment Plant: Backwash Water

This past Council Meeting, August 26, 2013, Council accepted a partnership with Holland Hot Oiling to capture the backwash water from the Bernie Haubrich Water Treatment Plant and use it for fracking purposes. This is an innovative project and, according to industry experts, is unique and may provide a template for other communities and companies to follow.

Bernie Haubrich Water Treatment Plant - September 2013

Currently 18% of the water through the water treatment plant is used for backwash, backwash is the water used to clean the filters at the water treatment plant. The goal is to reduce the demand on potable water by using the backwash water for fracking purposes. Water capacity and security is expected to increase as a result of this partnership.

Backwash Water Area - Sept 2013

The outlines of the deal are simple: for exclusive use Holland's Hot Oiling will develop the site to capture the backwash water and pay the Town for the water. At the end of the deal the Town receives the infrastructure developed to capture the backwash water.

Mayor's School

SUMA, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, held their first Mayor's School at the University of Regina August 18 - 20. The idea came from a visit by the Executive Director to the Ukraine when he learned the Mayor's there go to 'school.' Judging by the remarks of my colleagues and my own experience, the event was a success. Here are some the things we did and what I learned. by the way: "What is said in Mayors' School stays in Mayors' School."

The Legislative Building in Regina, August 2013

The session opened with a team game. Success meant reading all of the rules, successfully delegating responsibilities, planning the tactics, coordination, and some luck. My team finished 3rd. It was a terrific way to meet Mayoral colleagues from around the province. Forty-two mayors attended including mayors with more than 15 years of experience and rookies like me. Mayors came from villages as small as 70 to more than 35,000. As a result we had broad discussions on a wide array of topics. The mayors in attendance from West Central Saskatchewan included Eston, Unity, North Battleford, and Kindersley.

Our first full day started by spending time with former Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Barnhart. Mr. Barnhart spoke for an hour leaving me with these points:

• Network: I am an introvert by nature and need to continually remind myself to do this.
• Be polite.
• Be open to new ideas.
• Be persistent.
• Be principled.
• Be positive.
• Tell the truth.
• Take risks.
• Live with consequences.
• Mentor and be mentored.
• Don't take it too seriously.
• Enjoy the experience!

We also discussed the "Line in the Sand:" that point between the leadership of making vision setting, policies, and decision making and managing operations. It was a good conversation in which the principles applied to a town like Kindersley may not be the same for a village. What surprised me most was the amount of legislation that determines our relationship with Administration. I have heard people criticize our governance model but, a lot of it is right our of legislation. As a result of this I would like there to be a workshop for municipal officials covering the variety of legislation we have to work with and under. We also discussed the dynamic between Admin and Council. Believe it or not, there can be trust issues between the two and it runs both ways.

The next topic was Council Engagement: how can Councillors be effective and engaged. A mayor of 26 years also shared the different types Councillors. Some of the advice passed on my seasoned mayors include:

• Communicate,
• Don't take Council personally,
• Support one another,
• Keep our noses in and fingers out,
• Evaluate meetings,
• Focus on the future and vision.

Public Engagement was the next agenda item. Questions covered included:

• How do you share Council's vision with your constituents?
• Is there a difference between the business community and citizens?
• What about interest groups?
• What can go wrong?

The final afternoon session was on negative people. Thankfully Kindersley doesn't have negative people. However, it is important to remember that the 'negative nellies' may be right sometimes so it is important to get the facts. Here are the types of negative people identified:

• Chronic - always negative
• Two sided - somewhat reasonable
• Attacker - always after people
• Omitter - emphasis negative and doesn't recognize the positive

That night we had a choice of 3 themed dinners to discuss: Succession Planning on Council and the Future of Our Community, Public Engagement, Capacity Building and Partnership. I attended the meal talking about Public Engagement at Fortuna, the new restaurant owned and operated by former Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco.

Our final day was spent split between media training and an open dialogue about our current needs and issues, potential solutions, and resources. For media training we did mock interviews on both fictional and non-fictional stories. Some were hilarious and other very serious but they didn't prepare me to discuss white supremacists when I returned to Kindersley. The CBC TV interviewed me about Mayor's School but I don't think it made it to air.

This the Readers Digest version of Mayor's School. I learned that I am doing some things right and I have identified opportunities for me to improve. Should there be another Mayor's School I would like to see:

• an overview of relevant legislation,
• themed groups covering relevant needs and issues,
• themed groups allowing municipalities to develop partnerships to leverage strengths and overcome challenges,
• experts delivering messages on topics

There is no book or manual that tells you "How to be Mayor." To move our respective communities forward we need strong governance, stewardship, leadership, and more; we all need to enhance our respective capacities to best serve our communities.

Municipal Rail Safety

The amount of freight shipped by rail has increased significantly in the past few years. In western Canada railways are carrying our natural resources such as oil, gas, agriculture, and potash, to far away markets. We as a region and Saskatchewan in particular are producing more.


Looking West from the Bunkhouse Area

Because of the increased amount of freight the likelihood of an incident increases. The unfortunate incident in Quebec is one such example. Further, the rail incident in Calgary with the dangling rail car is another example of increased risks.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), of which the Town of Kindersley is a member, is working to increase rail safety in municipalities. FCM has identified three priority areas.

1. Equip and support municipal first responders to rail emergencies:

• Municipalities need to know what dangerous goods are being transported through their communities so local services can plan and respond effectively to emergencies.
• Railways and federal agencies cannot plan for emergencies alone. Local governments and authorities must be involved as partners in emergency planning.

2. Ensure federal and industry policies and regulations address the rail safety concerns of municipalities:

• At the local level, rail incidents can have significant impacts on public safety, the economy and the environment.
• Municipal concerns must be included in federal government risk assessment and policy development on rail safety.

3. Prevent downloading of rail safety and emergency response costs to municipal taxpayers:

• Third-party liability insurance systems must be strengthened to prevent the downloading of liability costs on municipal taxpayers, even in the event of bankruptcies.

Mayor & Reeves Forum

West Central Saskatchewan held its first Mayors and Reeves Forum on August 22, 2013. Fifteen Mayors and Reeves gathered together to speak with our MLA, Minister Bill Boyd, and discuss a variety of topics.

Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.

Henry Ford

The goals of the Forum include:

• To become an active, decision making body for our region.
• To increase our purchasing power.
• To leverage mutual strengths and weaknesses, and to speak with a louder voice for provincial and federal support by broaching issues collectively.
• To develop and maintain cooperative relationships with one another and expand our current working relationships.
• To discuss issues our distinct communities face while looking for commonalities among the group.

The agenda included discussions on:

• emergency services,
• human resources,
• procurement,
• quality of life,
• residential development, and
• lobbying.

Each Mayor and Reeve will be reporting back to their respective Council and determine next steps for their municipality.

Was the meeting a success? As we concluded I asked if they felt it was worthwhile and would they like to do it again. I am happy to say we will be meeting again.