Last year passed quickly and 2013 is proving to move just as fast. Already January is gone but Council is determined that this year many of the goals established during strategic planning will be accomplished.

Current core values adopted by the City include:
Resiliency and Sustainability – Build and maintain a well-planned City that balances social, economic and environmental values.
Stewardship – Ensure financial and human resources are used effectively and efficiently.
Community Involvement – provide information of activities and operations of the City and involve and engage the community in a meaningful manner.
Innovation – Find new and better ways of doing things.
Integrity – Demonstrating honesty and sincerity in work and service, open and transparent in communication to create an informed community.
Leadership – Advocate what we believe in an open and honest way, demonstrate commitment to long- term goals and City’s vision
Quality – Provide quality service, practice continuous improvement.
Safety – Includes Drinking water, Elk River, Highway Crossings, Worker safety, snow removal, etc.

During the strategic planning discussion it was noted that some of the opportunities like population growth will bring about negative aspects such as extra cost of policing once the City reaches the 5000 population threshold.

A lot of concerns and complaints have been expressed over snow removal. Our workers do a good job with the equipment available. Snow removal is done on a rotational schedule so each time different areas of town are cleared early; it is difficult to clear the entire town in one day when a snow event happens. Weekends are difficult as well as less workers are on duty. Making changes that will allow for more workers and equipment means increasing the snow removal budget that is presently at half million dollars, that would require an increase in taxes and I don’t know if that is something that the community would be agreeable to. I would like to remind everyone though that it is very difficult to do a good job of clearing the streets when vehicles are parked. Please contact the City to find when the alternate days are for moving parked vehicles to the different side of the street for snow clearing. I want to relay a comment that Chief Superintendent M.J. Sekela of Southeast District RCMP “E” Division was in town for a meeting with me and Jim Hendricks his first comment was that as he toured his district that stretches from the Alberta border to Lytton. Sekela said Fernie had the best snow clearing of streets, he only noticed one corner that was a little too high, but otherwise he commended us on how well the streets were passable. I realize this praise may sound hollow to some of you who come home to your driveway blocked by a windrow that prevents you from entering your home or from leaving it, I have experienced this first hand, but I wanted to point out that the City does the best it can, is there room for improvement, as with everything the answer is yes and we are working towards that.

Information that some may not be aware of is that with the small lot subdivision modular homes are a designated use. These are not single trailers but pre-fabricated homes. There has been a lot of negative comment regarding the small lot subdivision which came about to allow for more affordable housing. Most of the homes being built on these small lots are not deemed affordable however a modular home would allow for more people to own their own home at a more affordable price range.

The City owns 30 buildings, some of which are in need of repair, a facilities master plan will be conducted to address these issues.

On January 24 we had a meeting with MP David Wilks, he conducted a Pre Budget with council—here is a photo of council with him.

As mayor I have attended a dizzying amount of workshops, seminars, meetings and events. I continue to answer all emails and phone calls as I believe anyone who cares enough to contact me regarding a concern deserves the respect of being heard. I do my best to find solutions to concerns but sometimes it is difficult to do so. Regardless, I appreciate all correspondence and want to thank everyone for all comments, yes, especially the ones that are negative because it is through those that changes can be looked at and discussed.