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[0:00]
Grab a coffee and join us. Wisdom from
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the council chambers. Reflections from a
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retired counselor.
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» What would you say to encourage more
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people to consider running for municipal
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office?
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» I would say um try to find out as much
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as you can um beforehand. Get in get
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engaged, get involved. Um go to council
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meetings,
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sit in, see how the process works. And
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once again um maybe look at joining a
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committee as a member at large and uh
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that will uh illuminate a lot of issues
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uh you know with how the MD functions.
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So basically just get engaged.
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» What skills or knowledge are the most
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important do you think for a new
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counselor to be effective in their role?
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» Listening. Listening is one. and um and
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doing a little research on difficult
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issues.
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Um you know then you can become
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comfortable in in your decision
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because some of some um council
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decisions are quite um
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well they're not good for everybody
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necessarily and um difficult. But if if
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you're satisfied that
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you're doing the right thing and it's
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ethically uh it makes a lot easier.
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» How did you prepare yourself for making
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tough decisions in council?
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Uh once again I think it just goes back
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to
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going over it, doing your research and
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then becoming comfortable that what your
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vote
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uh will be will be in the best interest
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ethically you know for the rateayers
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for the MD for administration for
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everyone that I think that is the most
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important thing.
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Could you describe for us less some of
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the biggest challenges you faced during
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your terms?
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» Oh, becoming
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familiar with the background on complex
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issues was a big thing.
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uh as a counselor you deal with um a
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whole host of of different issues and uh
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you know most of them I had no expertise
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in and um yeah becoming familiar with
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the background and uh making a careful
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analysis so you could make a good
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decision in the end.
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» What were some of the most rewarding
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aspects
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um from serving as a counselor for Green
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View? I would say just um watching good
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policy get implemented.
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I think that is so rewarding.
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Um
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probably more than any one thing, it's
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just the dayto-day,
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you know, implement implementation of
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good good policy.
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» What legacy or impact do you feel you
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left on Green View through your time on
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council?
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Well, specifically, um I was proud to be
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a member of the uh Green View Regional,
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um Multiplex Board, and we managed to
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get that built and uh maybe there was
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some luck involved, but it was u as I
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recall
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on time and and on budget roughly.
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Um that was a great achievement and I I
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can't take credit for that. I would give
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uh most of the credit to Dale Jervy who
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was like a dog with a bone and started
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the whole process and guided it through.
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But uh yeah, that's that's one. Um
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another one was um we initiated the um
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the Gateway Industrial um south of
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Grogdale and uh that I think was a a
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tremendous insight by a number of people
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and I was just happy to be a part of
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that. see that get started and I'm happy
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to see the present council continuing
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and uh pushing that forward and u
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another one would be the take it or
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leave it sites um at the uh transfer
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stations. We didn't have anything like
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that and and it took um quite a bit of
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work actually once we had uh you know uh
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saw how other
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municipalities work and what a great
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idea it was and and uh it took a bit of
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uh pushing and and work to get it done
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but we did and u I'm I'm kind of proud
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of that too and I get lots of good
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feedback on that. Could you describe
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some common misconceptions people may
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have about being a counselor?
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» Yeah. Uh I I think uh people don't
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understand the
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the powers of an individual counselor.
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They're quite limited really. Uh you
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can't really do anything uh you know on
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your own. You're part of a
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of a machine. And um yeah, no one
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counselor has any veto or anything like
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that. I think the biggest misconception
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um that a lot of people have uh
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concerning the role of counselor is just
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what individual powers they have and uh
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that they can't really affect change
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bypassing the CEO and and and going
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straight to staff. It's
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really been a treat working with, you
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know, all of all of the MD staff and uh
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they work hard on a day-to-day basis and
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and make things work.
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So, just kudos.