Factors in meeting Council's goals
Published October 30, 2009
It is hard to believe we are more than two thirds through our present mandate as a Council. What have we accomplished and how much more can we do for our residents should be our prime purpose over the next year.
There are a number of external as well as internal forces at work which may be a factor in allowing us to realize our full potential and fulfill our goals for our citizens. The biggest external one I believe is the new Capital Region Board which has been put together under an ultimatum with the premise that the region knows more as a whole than individual municipalities do concerning their needs and desires. This Board, which consists of different elected officials from the entire region, gets to determine growth, amenities and the future of individual municipalities sometimes even over their objections. While I am a believer in regional cooperation, this goes far beyond any cooperative effort as one municipality has a veto because of their voting power on any decision made for the region. This, call it what you may, is a new level of government as it has requisitioning power over all municipalities in the region and I am awaiting the first call for funding which could substantially increase our property taxes with no discernable benefit for an individual municipality.
An internal factor that must come into play is the will of this combined Council. We, as a group, should very quickly determine where we would like to end up at the termination of our mandate. We should be talking to our residents as to where they feel this municipality must end up in terms of growth, the environment and the services we provide and mostly, what our costs should be in getting us there. I believe it is imperative that our goals should take into account the changing demographics of this municipality as well as our growth. There must be a way to retain our senior citizens as well as ensuring there is always room to house the children who have grown up in this community and now wish to raise their own families here. No matter our own perspective viewpoints on any matter, we as elected officials must always remember while we were elected to lead, we must never forget who elected us and their hopes and desires.
I look forward to the challenges of this next year and to working with all my fellow councillors to fulfill the mandate given to us by our voters, the overall well being and future of our municipality. To this end, we as a Council must engage in a well meaning and thoughtful discussion as a whole to reach this goal.
Vic Bidzinski, Councillor Ward 1
780-464-8005
bidzinski@strathcona.ab.ca.
Last updated: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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