My responses to the Crowsnest Pass Promoter

These appeared in the paper on Friday Oct 8th



1. What do you think council’s three top priorities should be for the next term?

Increased tax base by attracting new Business and development.
Keep Tax Increases to a minimum by being more efficient
Rebuild our financial reserves so that the municipality as the options to look at new initiatives in the future

2. What specific actions need to be taken to expand our tax base?

We need to look at the option of hiring a person to market our community, attracting business is not that simply ever community in rural Alberta is looking to attract business, if we don't have professional help we will not suceed.
Second if a business looked at our community that required a large piece of land, along the highway, that's serviced and flat. What do we have to offer? we need to clear the land that the old hospital stands on if we want to attract commercial business.
Tax Breaks for new businesses do not work, past experience shows they leave when the tax breaks run out.
How do you think our thirty tax paying local restaurants would feel if we gave a big name restaurant a tax break to compete with them?

3. Describe your ideal land use plan for both residential and commercial development?

The province is planning to have the South Saskatchewan regional land use plan in place next year, which our Municipal Development plan must conform with. In 2011 we should review our Municipal development plan with the input of the public the present plan is ten years old. Future growth will happen, the municipality and its residents must decide where and what type of growth. We need to create a balance between increasing our tax base, preserving the environment, and increasing the density of development where services such as water and sewer are accessible.

4. The municipality has an $18 million budget. What experience do you have to manage this?

Six years on Council, where I have always attempted to be aggressive in encouraging both Council and Administration to come up with ways of been more efficient with the taxpayers dollars. More can be done, I am hopeful that the next Council will take the opportunity to put out for tender our engineering something that as not been done in eight years, an area where substantial dollars are spent every year.

5. How will you define success for the governance of Crowsnest Pass?

A council that works as a team, one that starts with the Mayor being a leader not a dictator. One where people come to a council meeting looking to make decisions based on facts, information, numbers, debate etc. A Council that three years from now can say the Crowsnest Pass as achieved tremendous positive change.