[0:00] Grab a coffee and join us. Wisdom from
[0:03] the council chambers. Reflections from a
[0:06] retired counselor.
[0:07] » What would you say to encourage more
[0:09] people to consider running for municipal
[0:12] office?
[0:14] » I would say um try to find out as much
[0:16] as you can um beforehand. Get in get
[0:20] engaged, get involved. Um go to council
[0:24] meetings,
[0:25] sit in, see how the process works. And
[0:28] once again um maybe look at joining a
[0:32] committee as a member at large and uh
[0:37] that will uh illuminate a lot of issues
[0:40] uh you know with how the MD functions.
[0:44] So basically just get engaged.
[0:46] » What skills or knowledge are the most
[0:48] important do you think for a new
[0:50] counselor to be effective in their role?
[0:54] » Listening. Listening is one. and um and
[0:59] doing a little research on difficult
[1:00] issues.
[1:02] Um you know then you can become
[1:05] comfortable in in your decision
[1:09] because some of some um council
[1:13] decisions are quite um
[1:16] well they're not good for everybody
[1:18] necessarily and um difficult. But if if
[1:22] you're satisfied that
[1:24] you're doing the right thing and it's
[1:26] ethically uh it makes a lot easier.
[1:29] » How did you prepare yourself for making
[1:31] tough decisions in council?
[1:34] Uh once again I think it just goes back
[1:36] to
[1:38] going over it, doing your research and
[1:41] then becoming comfortable that what your
[1:45] vote
[1:46] uh will be will be in the best interest
[1:50] ethically you know for the rateayers
[1:53] for the MD for administration for
[1:56] everyone that I think that is the most
[1:59] important thing.
[2:01] Could you describe for us less some of
[2:03] the biggest challenges you faced during
[2:05] your terms?
[2:08] » Oh, becoming
[2:10] familiar with the background on complex
[2:12] issues was a big thing.
[2:15] uh as a counselor you deal with um a
[2:19] whole host of of different issues and uh
[2:23] you know most of them I had no expertise
[2:26] in and um yeah becoming familiar with
[2:29] the background and uh making a careful
[2:34] analysis so you could make a good
[2:35] decision in the end.
[2:36] » What were some of the most rewarding
[2:38] aspects
[2:40] um from serving as a counselor for Green
[2:42] View? I would say just um watching good
[2:47] policy get implemented.
[2:49] I think that is so rewarding.
[2:52] Um
[2:55] probably more than any one thing, it's
[2:58] just the dayto-day,
[3:01] you know, implement implementation of
[3:03] good good policy.
[3:04] » What legacy or impact do you feel you
[3:07] left on Green View through your time on
[3:10] council?
[3:12] Well, specifically, um I was proud to be
[3:16] a member of the uh Green View Regional,
[3:19] um Multiplex Board, and we managed to
[3:23] get that built and uh maybe there was
[3:26] some luck involved, but it was u as I
[3:29] recall
[3:31] on time and and on budget roughly.
[3:34] Um that was a great achievement and I I
[3:37] can't take credit for that. I would give
[3:41] uh most of the credit to Dale Jervy who
[3:44] was like a dog with a bone and started
[3:47] the whole process and guided it through.
[3:50] But uh yeah, that's that's one. Um
[3:54] another one was um we initiated the um
[3:57] the Gateway Industrial um south of
[4:00] Grogdale and uh that I think was a a
[4:04] tremendous insight by a number of people
[4:07] and I was just happy to be a part of
[4:08] that. see that get started and I'm happy
[4:11] to see the present council continuing
[4:14] and uh pushing that forward and u
[4:18] another one would be the take it or
[4:20] leave it sites um at the uh transfer
[4:24] stations. We didn't have anything like
[4:26] that and and it took um quite a bit of
[4:30] work actually once we had uh you know uh
[4:33] saw how other
[4:35] municipalities work and what a great
[4:38] idea it was and and uh it took a bit of
[4:42] uh pushing and and work to get it done
[4:44] but we did and u I'm I'm kind of proud
[4:46] of that too and I get lots of good
[4:49] feedback on that. Could you describe
[4:51] some common misconceptions people may
[4:54] have about being a counselor?
[4:57] » Yeah. Uh I I think uh people don't
[5:00] understand the
[5:03] the powers of an individual counselor.
[5:06] They're quite limited really. Uh you
[5:08] can't really do anything uh you know on
[5:12] your own. You're part of a
[5:16] of a machine. And um yeah, no one
[5:20] counselor has any veto or anything like
[5:23] that. I think the biggest misconception
[5:26] um that a lot of people have uh
[5:29] concerning the role of counselor is just
[5:32] what individual powers they have and uh
[5:36] that they can't really affect change
[5:39] bypassing the CEO and and and going
[5:42] straight to staff. It's
[5:46] really been a treat working with, you
[5:48] know, all of all of the MD staff and uh
[5:52] they work hard on a day-to-day basis and
[5:54] and make things work.
[5:56] So, just kudos.