My last blog commented on what a ride it has been.....not only for the past week or two since the nomination papers went in but really just my life in general these past few years.
I guess what makes me wonder sometimes is what others can be thinking, but then I guess that's their business.
So, I will make some points based on my "promises" from 2010.
I have supported and will continue to support:
- Senior's Housing
- Doctor Recruitment and Retention
- Community Involvement
- Economic Development
- Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability
- Honesty, Openness and Common Sense
- Dependability, Trust and Respect
Well here is how it went for me. I am still the Chair of our local Senior's Manors and Social Housing Board. We have a very good manager who keeps us in the loop, collects the rent, does the bookkeeping, oversees the cleaning and maintenance contract and is the first one the people call when there is a problem. We follow the policies and guidelines and we are in close contact with Alberta Housing. We hold quarterly meetings.
I managed to stay on the Castor and District Housing Authority/Paintearth Lodge Board for a short while. Let's just say that we are not getting much help from that little arrangement. We are required to send money every year to support this agreement. Check your tax notices for further information. You may also contact our CAO to find out the exact amount that is sent from the Town of Coronation. It is in the 25 to 30 thousand dollar range.
I do not sit on the Supportive Living Board but I do know that we also support this facility with a yearly requisition that is based on equalized assessment. Our portion is about 25 thousand, it could be more. This is an Advisory Board and all agreements for payment from the other members are not mandated by a ministerial order or any such thing. It is a mutually agreed upon arrangement. This board now meets monthly. During our tenure on council the board has hired a Coordinator to seek funding opportunities and partnerships in the hope of replacing this aging facility.
I will admit it is so frustrating to get anything done and I want it done yesterday! The only thing that I can say is that we need to keep advocating for more and improved Senior's and Affordable Housing in Coronation. We have to move forward and find ways to get it done. While appreciating what has gone before we cannot get mired in the past we have to look to the future and keep going.
Point number two: Physician Recruitment and Retention
I am currently one of two Councillors who sit on this board. We are in a cost sharing agreement with the county. The board is made up of two County Councillors, Two Town of Coronation Councillors, One member at large from town and one member at large from the county, one member at large from town/county. Our town and county CAOs, the site manager from the hospital and our physicians all act in an advisory capacity. In the past three years with this Board we have purchased two houses as rental accommodations for our physicians, use the town condo for locum accommodations, continue to fine tune our recruitment incentives and meet monthly and more often at the call of the Chair. We have successfully recruited one physician and his family to Coronation. We are in the process of recruiting again (and again and again). I say that because you never stop recruiting. I think that sometimes we forget about the retention part of what we do. We always have to think of the critical role our physicians play in our community and never forget how much we appreciate them. I would also like to say that we are very appreciative of all our health care professionals and everyone who works at our Hospital and Care Centre, Continuing Care and Supportive Living. The largest employer in Coronation is our Health Care Facility and we need to support every aspect of recruitment and retention.
Point number three: community involvement
I have and will continue to be involved in our community. We have chosen to live here and we want to make the best of it. Sometimes my idea of what constitutes community spirit and involvement and other people's perception are two different things. I am not in favor of always doing things the same old way. We have to move with the times and come up with new and exciting ways to do things. I believe that by doing this we can engage more of our citizens in community endeavors. We have several volunteer opportunities for people who want to get involved. These are all great groups and I am sure they would welcome more helping hands. Young people especially have different ways of doing things and I think we should be mindful of that and try to embrace some of their unique perspective. This is why we did the community survey for the Wellness Centre and why we decided to get the school age kids involved in the survey. In other words: instead of telling them how to do something ask how they think it should be done! Kudos to all the people who get involved in the community life of Coronation. I hope that you all feel welcome and that you count!
Point number four: Economic Development
I went to a Travel Alberta one day session this spring and met a fellow who stood up and said: Economic Development is a fancy phrase for Tourism. I agree. We need to promote our town every chance we get. The idea behind tourism for our little community would be that we come up with some plans to attract people to town for one day and maybe they will come back next year and stay for two days. We have several businesses in town who could put their collective heads together to not only market themselves but also help one another to keep people at home to shop, to eat, to enjoy their lives right here at home.
We belong to PEPS which eats up a lot of our Councillor time and a lot of the taxpayer's money.
I would suggest that if you have questions perhaps you could ask some of the most recent new businesses in town if they have heard of PEPS. Then ask them how PEPS encouraged and promoted for them. Then ask some of the older businesses in town how they have benefited from the Paintearth Economic Partnership Society. I am not going to speak for the businesses and I am not going to tell you what to think. Ask.
Otherwise I am proud to say that our Town CAO has done a very good job with Economic Development. I am also proud to have been part of a proactive council that approved everything that needed to be done to develop our new Light Industrial Subdivision. We can all thank good leadership for that one.
Point number five: Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability
I think that by the changes we made to our administration that we can now show fiscal responsibility and accountability. Now we need to move one step further and show the taxpayers that the same old ways of spending the money can be changed up a bit. Sometimes the hard decisions have to be made and I believe they were made. It is not really council's job to parse the money out; but council has to approve a budget that is balanced and responsible to the people. To tell you the truth budget time gives me a headache. I just want to thank our CAO for working so diligently the first year of this council's term.
Points six and seven:
If anything I am honest and open. Sometimes it gets me in trouble since in my way I sometimes equate bluntness with honesty. We have to follow the rules and that is what I meant by common sense. It is not common sense to make up your own rules just because you think that would work better. It is in the publics' best interests to have rules, policy and by-laws and it is in any councillor's best interests to exhibit common sense and follow these rules. It works better for everyone.
On the last three lovely statements I am a dependable person and I hope that people trust and respect me not only for who I am but how I am. I respect each and every person, group and organization in this community as well. I am not in favor of disrespecting or showing favor to any one person or group over another. I make no excuses if this was ever the case. Being on a town council is a balancing act.
So there you have it - an explanation of how I think I did based on what I said I would do.
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