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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.