Mayor will stand for fifth election

Mayor Judy Dahl announced that she will let her name stand for the upcoming municipal elections, which would send her into a fifth term if the votes are cast in her favour.

"For me it's all about getting up in the morning and just knowing that every day you're going to learn something new," said Mayor Dahl. "You're going to educate, and they are going to educate you."

By 'they' she means the people, and the people are what drives her. Having had the chance to pursue politics at the provincial and federal levels, the mayor says that's what she enjoys most about being a municipal mayor.

"I like to be able to be in the municipal side," she said, "to be able to continue to have that bond with the people in the community."

"To continue being an elected official is being able to mentor future elected officials, and we have so many in this community."

The mayor credited the current council for the work done over the past term.

"I am really comfortable where we're at," she said. "I am, as a mayor, very privileged to be able to have a council, to work with them, and accomplish what we've accomplished in this four-year term."

The biggest of those accomplishments, said the mayor, was the current administration's work on the Council Service Plan, a comprehensive document that includes annual and quarterly schedules, checklists of obligations and other information that keeps the team on target.

"We use it as a budget tool and a schedule to work with our administration to make sure that we are timely and on schedule, and have our goals met," she said, noting the plan came into effect at the beginning of this last term. "It's probably been one of the best tools that we've ever had to work with, to have a means to measure and go back."

"This is only going to get stronger," she said. "This was our pilot project this term, and I am very proud of this. Very proud of where it is and very proud of the staff that helped us put it together."

Mayor Dahl said one of the more noticeable shifts over the last term is a move toward intra-municipal cooperation and shared funding models, something being encouraged by the province.

"Our current reality is community," she said about the push to work with both the county and other municipalities. "There's no money left anymore. We really do need to cultivate that inclusive investment that will create tomorrow's jobs, cultivate economic growth, and social prosperity."

"Our future is dependent on collaboration coming together in real life."

When it comes to the economic gap that many see, she says that while some businesses may be closing, there are always others opening.

"There's opportunity in economic development that continues to knock on our door," said the mayor. "Our council must continue to make those investments."

Those investments, she said, are a way to "future proof" the community.

"For me, future proof means stability in investments that help sustain your community," she said. "That's our job."

One of the mandates of the present council, said the mayor, was a focus on public engagement, which has happened for a variety topics, from parks and trails, to community standards, to the broader municipal development plan.

"It was really important to me to provide citizens with the necessary knowledge and tools to actively engage," she said. "We need to realize the importance of their support, their signature, and their voice."

She said this is the No. 1 thing she has learned during her tenure.

"We could sit here collectively as council and mayor and administration, and build and create and brainstorm," she said, "but what good is that to the community?

"You have to take the people with you. That is my motto."

Public engagement, she said, is about listening to the community, and working together to make things happen, using the splash park as a prime example.

"We knew that we couldn't just go out and build that ourselves," she said. "We didn't have the capacity and we didn't have the funding."

Instead, she said, volunteers in the community made it happen alongside council. And while the town eventually took over the operations, the mayor said it is the people who own the splash park.

"That's very important to me as a mayor," she said, "that whatever we do, the community owns. Because when we're gone – because we are not what we do – we don't have to worry about it disappearing. Because the people own it."

In the end, the mayor said the motivation to seek another term, after 13 years at the council table, is her family.

"If you do not have family support … it is a very difficult position to put yourself in," she said. "It doesn't matter where you go, they ask you questions and they ask your family questions.

"And if they're on board, it's something you just want to get up every morning and do."