As you no doubt have figured out by reading the title of
this post, I will not be seeking re-election to Killam town council this
fall. Barring some significant event –
political or otherwise – that I feel the need to comment on, this will be my
last post on this blog.
By election time in October, I will have served 16 years as
a member of Council – 5 years as Councillor, 1 year as Acting Mayor, and 10
years as Mayor - 5 terms in all. Many
would say I have stayed too long and they may well be correct!
There are many to thank, and this is my last opportunity, so
here goes.
Firstly, thank you to
the citizens of the Town of Killam who have allowed me to represent them and
have given me this amazing experience.
Thank you to all my council colleagues, past &
present. Many of you I have agreed with
on various issues; some I have agreed with on almost no issue. However, I have always tried to understand
& respect your point of view and always knew you had the best interests of
our community at heart.
Thank you as
well to all council members who have come before me. Each councillor stands on the shoulders of his/her
predecessors, and we are lucky in Killam to have had a solid foundation on
which to build. Killam has been very
fortunate to have had stable, functional government over the years – not every
municipality in Alberta can say that.
Thank you to our Administration. This group of people does an amazing job for
our residents every day, and I can’t thank them enough. Thank you especially to Chief Administrative Officer Kim Borgel; it is
not easy for the CAO to deal with seven elected representatives and their
various points of view. Kim does a great
job and has assembled a team that delivers good value to our residents.
Thank you to all the Council members in our Flagstaff
regional community. Working with our
neighbours is a big part of this job and I have met & worked with many good
people over the years. I will miss
working with most of you!
While many events & meeting occur in the evening, Mayor’s
tasks often happen during the day. This
has taken me away from work on many occasions, and I want to thank my work colleagues
and business partners – they have often been called upon to take on work I was
unable to do because of my municipal commitments.
Finally (and most importantly) I want to thank my family and
especially my wife, Tammy. This
commitment has meant countless hours away from family life, interruptions at
meal time, angry calls to the house (sometimes followed by an angry husband in
the house), overnight absences, etc.etc.
I simply could not have done this without their, and her, support.
So have my council colleagues & I been able to make a
difference over the past several years?
That is up to you to decide. I do,
however, like to think that we have laid the groundwork over those years for
Killam to succeed as a community.
The job of Council is to define the long range goals of the
municipality, set a budget that can accomplish those goals, and then get out of
the way so Administration can get to work.
If you are not looking 20 years down the road you are not doing your
job. A good analogy is that Council
steers the boat and Administration rows the boat.
The councils I have worked with have spent considerable time
developing and updating various planning documents and policies – in other
words doing their job. I salute them for
that, for it is very easy – and tempting at times – for a Councillor to cross
that line into Administration territory.
That almost always results in a wreck, and can’t be allowed to happen. Have we occasionally hit the ditch? Of course, but I do believe we have got it
right more times than not.
At the risk of influencing the Agenda for our new council,
here are my thoughts on issues that continue to need our attention going
forward – all relating to our long term sustainability.
The communities of Flagstaff are in the midst of a
discussion on the possibility of regional governance and more specifically
regional government. The landscape has
changed for municipal government and status quo is no longer an option. Some had thought we may be electing a
regional Council in October, but this will not be the case. This discussion is not completed and new councils
will be asked to pick this up in the new term.
I have said from the start that we owe our residents this discussion – we
need to explore different ways for our regional community to work together, and
this is obviously one way. You will have
opportunity to examine this proposal and give your
feedback, and the conversation needs to continue.
Economic development will continue to become more
important. The trend of declining
population and migration of citizens away from rural communities into urban
communities is a big challenge. While
some of you have told us you are willing to pay more in property taxes in order
to retain services, for many of us this is simply not an option, and we all
know we will eventually hit the ceiling on this. A new grocery store or barber shop for your
community is not economic development – it merely supports the economy. We need to think much bigger here – we need
to think manufacturing things and creating things, and the “If you build it
they will come” philosophy on its own doesn’t work. By the way, the regional governance proposal noted
above suggests a better chance of dealing with this issue as a region.
Finally, I believe we really need to take a critical look at
ourselves. Today’s family will not come
to our community solely because of employment.
First of all, many jobs can be done from anywhere you can get a cell
signal and reasonable internet. But even
if your job brings you to Flagstaff region, the real consideration for most
employees is what you and your family can experience after work. It is parks & playgrounds, and a variety
of recreation. But it’s also cultural events
& experiences, friendly neighbourhoods, and welcoming & inclusive
communities. In particular, inclusivity
is a challenge in our community, and I sincerely regret that I was not able, as
a community leader, to have a more positive influence. I pledge to continue to advocate for this as
a citizen.
I wish every success to our new council. I know you will find your time as an elected
official to be rewarding. Your learning
curve will be steep and you will need to grow a thick skin! You will also get to work with great people
and help shape the future of our community. If you can see the broader picture and
understand other people’s point of view you will do great.
Best Regards,
Bud James
