We started Council in 2012 with a very informative presentation by MP David Wilks who noted that Canada has had the strongest economic and jobs recovery in the entire G-7 since the worst of the global recession, but while Canada is doing better than most it is still vulnerable to shocks from beyond our borders like possibility of further slowdown of the US economy and uncertainty concerning growing debt and the concerns about the debt crisis spreading to more European countries.

Regional District held a session with noted Parliamentarian Eli Mina who provided information on how to run meetings and advice on making motions (don’t do them on the fly- it’s a minefield, it’s risky to move too quickly) how to deal with the public (procedural fairness, need to give notice, not only on what you decide but by how you decide) council must remember assets are not yours but the community’s. So must be responsible. There should be partnerships between staff and council and above all it must be transparent. Trust is an essential commodity; everyone works as a cohesive team, with knowledge. About conflict he said, “it’s not good or bad it just is, deal with it and gain trust.” Decisions should be made with a back and forth input in a safe, learning environment not a combative one, and it has to be inclusive and transparent. Staff must impart knowledge to council because we need objective, professional advice not just tell us what to do. Speak up even if knowledge is not popular, and always be respectful. It should never be about the individual but about the process. So far I am finding Regional District very interesting and a huge learning curve.

January 9 had presentation from City directors to inform new council on their job description and what their work load entails. There is vast responsibility for directors who have a myriad of duties and employees to look after, most of the work done extremely well and for the benefit of our citizens. I attended the “Online reputation management course offered by Tourism Fernie, very helpful for business owners as it showed use of social media to help grow business.

Fernie residents Mary Menduk and Doug Marteinson sent me information regarding citizen engagement. Doug said that Calgary Council has implemented a 1-2-3- Go initiative, an interactive website that asks residents three things, “What am I good at? What do I care about? What do I have to say about it? People are encouraged to take three minutes to write answers and speak with three people about what they wrote. This feedback is to engage residents in conversation about what area of Calgary they live in so they can express what’s on their mind. “This website was built by volunteers with free, off- the- shelf software available to anyone with internet access, a little bit of determination and a willingness to experiment”, states the website. It is felt that if every person did at least three things for their city they would have over 3 million actions making Calgary an even better place. This type of interaction is something that might be of benefit to Fernie as well to engage citizens in becoming even more involved with the Council they elect.

Fernie has a decorations committee of which I am part of that has been looking at town beautification for winter and summer. This interest is very dear to my heart that began when I was first elected ten years ago. I initiated the flower basket and wrap around garland with lights on Second Avenue but have always felt that we needed to do more. This committee has representation from the public and they have amazing new ideas on how to beautify our town. The beautiful decorative lighting on Second Avenue is a result of this committee, next will be working with the Fernie Chamber to participate in “Communities in Bloom”.

Council members went to IDES to physically present responses to the letters written by students from Patrice Mann’s French Immersion grades five and six class. The students were happy to receive the letters and made new inquiries. They wanted more doggie poop bags for the fields next to the school and expressed safety concerns about speeding on 13th Street and the street along the Aquatic Centre. The speeding comments were relayed to Staff Sargent Lorne Craig who said he would have someone check both streets. He also informed that the Elkford detachment office had to be closed due to high Radon readings of 3000(safe threshold is 800) so police offers are working out of the Sparwood and Fernie office until it safe to return.

Council held a committee of the whole meeting last Monday that had Councillors present goals for a long list of accomplishments they would like to see done by the end of this term. This list included a tool kit of information for business and development that would streamline City Hall process, revisit some decisions made by previous council, paving of Ghostrider roads, quarterly newsletter to inform the public of plans and projects, cameras for downtown, OCP and zoning rewrites, Convention centre, and many more.

There are several committees that will need new members so please come forward and be involved. Being on committees such as the Official Community Plan provides you with opportunity to guide how our town will look in the future.
All meetings held by Council except in camera meetings are open to the public. Council welcomes everyone to come and listen to what is discussed and offer your opinion. I invite anyone to call me with concerns or ideas. I want to personally and also on behalf of the City of Fernie thank all of the people who have served on all of the committees that have stepped down and those that continue to serve. As a member of the OCP and the Quality of Life subcommittee I know how much time was spent working on these two alone. We met bi-weekly, sometimes weekly when the Quality of Life document was being produced. Chair Casey Brennan put a lot of time and effort into these committees and I want to thank him for his contribution. I hope that it will be possible to produce a newsletter about what is happening at Council so that you the public is informed. Of course you are also able to watch council meetings online at fernietv.com and on Shaw Community Channel as well as checking out the City web page for further information.