Councilor Forum My Opening and Closing Statements

Below are my opening and closing statements from last night's forum, I also added in my closing statement (In response to a comment from an audience member) the fact that Council in 2008 may have passed a 12% tax increase which at that time I strongly spoke and voted against.

In response to numerous requests I am going to put my opinion poll back up on the Councilors 

Looking for comments regarding last night I will not post any derogatory or personal comments.

Opening Statement

My name is Dean Ward I have lived in the CNP for 30 years, I have a beautiful wife Debbie, raised three kids and have two grandchildren living here.

I have put myself forward as a candidate because I believe in this community and it’s people I wish to see it thrive, flourish and be affordable for all of us. Lets talk about a few issues.  

Taxes, and franchise fees are too high we cannot continue on the path we are on. We are told taxes are only going up 2.5% a year, yet we will pay $400,000 more in franchise fees this year than we did in 2010.

We are a very old community with a very limited tax base, we must increase our municipal revenue by growth not by additional taxation.

We must attract young families by keeping this community affordable.

At the same time we must honor the commitments we have made to our seniors, provide the $100,000 for upgrades at the lodge, and we must make sure the town rounder service is maintained. 

Our community would only have a fraction of what it does today, without the efforts of volunteers both, past, and present we must find more ways to recognize their efforts.

Our administration is too large and expensive, does anybody want to see it get larger? I don’t, we need to determine our priorities and reduce our costs.

Did we really need to spend $50,000 to buy the Best Western name? How much money have we spent on consultants, reports, logo’s, brands, entrance signs. We are not a wealthy community we can not afford to spend freely ever dollar counts.  

We should not need a consultant to tell us how bad the relationship between our municipal workforce and administration is, fixing this needs to be a priority.

Despite all of our concerns the CNP is still the greatest place in the world to live and I would be honored to serve this community for the next four year.  

Thanks for coming enjoy the rest of the evening I will have more comments later

Closing Statement

Moving forward over the next four years.

Change, it will happen, it is unavoidable but it must be change embraced and supported by the community. Your next council could have the greatest ideas in the world but they mean nothing if you the taxpayers feel they are being rammed down your throat. We all need to feel a part of change.

Communications, council needs to do a better job, town hall meetings need to be an opportunity for the public to be heard, council needs to be both available and approachable. Municipal Newsletters should not be an opportunity for the Mayor to call his opponents names, let us bring the respect back to the community starting with our leadership.

Municipal Affairs will not solve our problems they have made that very clear to us, we will live with the people we choose on Oct 21 for the next four years.

I would like to thank the Chamber for putting on the forum and the public for showing up to hear the candidates and for all the support I have received.

Finally, I will not make unrealistic promises, but I will promise you a hard working committed councilor who wants to move this town forward in a positive direction that is supported by the majority of the residents, we have to maintain the Crowsnest Pass as a place that is affordable for all of us. 

On October 21 I would greatly appreciate your vote Thank you.