Dennis Cooper looks back and ahead

PENHOLD - After 19 years serving on Penhold's municipal council, Dennis Cooper can look back and see that he made his mark.

Cooper served two terms as mayor and the rest as a councillor. He was defeated by Michael Yargeau on Oct. 16 in a bid to serve a third term as mayor.

“You get hired by a ballot and you get fired by a ballot,” Cooper said, saying he's not mad or upset at Yargeau in any way and wishes the newly-elected council the best. The former mayor might even consider running for council again some day.

“I did this because I have tremendous love and appreciation for our community,” he said. After 19 years of public service, he can see the difference in a town that has grown hugely in that time.

“In driving around the town and seeing the differences we have, yeah, it was worth it,” he said of the time and sacrifice involved in being on council.

As a councillor, Cooper worked under two mayors. The first, Curtis Johnson, taught him about council's responsibility to the taxpayer and to be available to listen and assist citizens.

The second, Julia King, taught him how to aim high for the town.

“She was all about daring to dream,” Cooper said.

Council's dream became a multiplex -- a dream that saw reality. Cooper was heavily involved via council, including beating down doors for money.

“We lobbied every level of government we possibly could,” he said.

That lobbying paid off, with $16 million in grant money coming in.

When he was elected mayor after the multiplex opened, he set his sights on fiscal responsibility and growth.

He thought that both sides of the town's balance sheet needed work and council froze the mill rate - an effort somewhat undermined by climbing property values - and the mayor went about meeting with builders to help remove barriers to growth.

“That was the big saviour of our town -- we had positive growth,” he said.

He said 450 houses were built during the seven years he was mayor and 13 new businesses opened, with another five or so opening in the coming months.

Population soared from a town of about 1,800 to one that's closing in on 3,500. Cooper loathes the term “bedroom community” and wanted to change that perception of Penhold.

“Our town is not a bedroom community anymore. It's a young, growing, vibrant community with many opportunities for growth,” he said.

Thanks to his work with the regional wastewater commission, he was able to help ensure that Penhold has system capacity for a population of up to 7,000. A new water treatment plant means there will be enough water for 7,000 as well.

Other work he's particularly proud of includes helping create the town cenotaph, work on spray park, the RV park, Tranquility Park, paving the Waskasoo and convincing the school board to build the high school in town versus Gasoline Alley.

He helped build the Penhold fall fair to a multi-day event that grows every year.

“I wanted to create a whole weekend -- a reason to make the town a destination,” he said.

He'll miss working with CAO Rick Binnendyk, with whom Cooper built a friendship, albeit one marked by the occasional “jousting” match.

“By being a team we challenged each other to making sure things got better,” Cooper said.

He said it was a pleasure working with town staff, and praised his colleagues on council for pursuing a dream to completion.

“To the citizens, I'm humbled, honoured that I had a chance to serve as their representative as both mayor and councillor. They've taught me a lot. They've challenged me and they have rewarded me,” he said.

Now that Cooper has a bit more time on his hands, he's teaching even more aviation at his business, Skywings, and is working on writing and updating his aviation books.

But just because he's a private citizen again doesn't mean Cooper will be disappearing from Penhold. If his help is needed, he said he'll be the first out the door.

“I'm going to continue to work with our community,” he said.