Thinking Ahead Locally
We are blessed in our country to be able to vote in scheduled elections - billions cannot freely choose their leaders. Let’s not take this privilege and right for granted by voting on November 9. We do have a fine group of candidates from which to choose.
My advice is to listen to your citizens, both publicly and privately, during meetings, through letters, social media, phone calls or face to face encounters. Be open with your plans and actions ahead of time so people can think through and support your decisions. People don’t like surprises from their representatives. Costs rise every year so the best method to stay on top of those is a modest tax increase annually. Use our local media to report plans, budgets and financial reports. We need to know where our money is spent. Have open meetings so people know why decisions are made - a record of motions is needed but is inadequate. We want careful spending, neither wasteful nor skimpy. Get the most out of all of our employees by appreciating their efforts, encouraging improvement and rewarding their work adequately. Only Bob Cratchit could work happily for Ebenezer Scrooge.
Develop a vision for our town the citizens can accept. We have so much going for us in Outlook: a beautiful Regional Park and great recreational facilities - Recplex, ball diamonds, swimming pool, walking trails, golf course, orange bridge and the river. Could we develop a strategy that ties these different facilities together? We’re in the heart of irrigation, potatoes and vegetables. Can we encourage local value-added industry? Outlook has so many musical and artistic people. Are we doing enough to promote further growth in these areas. We have an active and loyal reading group. How do we encourage more people to use our library? We are blessed to have three schools in our community. How do we collaborate and work cooperatively with these institutions? LCBI has been an integral part of this community for over one hundred years bringing outside money into our economy, jobs for employees who reside in our town and young people who serve us. Many citizens live here because LCBI brought them to our town. That school must remain a focus for our future economic development.
Many people miss our SkyTrail. We can’t just ignore its presence in our community. We need to revisit it because, as it stands, SkyTrail poses a future liability to our town, perhaps in the $20 to 40 million dollar range should we have to dismantle it. We must encourage the federal and provincial government to step up, maybe even CPR, to care for this facility that crosses an important water source. There are citizens in Outlook who would be interested in working towards recovering this important tourist attraction.
We need a new fire hall, a revamped, updated Civic Centre and an improved water source. All three of these carry a large price tag. Fortunately, the Civic Centre has substantial grants to make it affordable. The fire hall raises the question of need and affordability. Can we build a more modest facility that can be expanded in the future? Duane Preus made some inquiries and proposed a much more affordable option to the water problem we are facing. Should we, at least, look at his proposal in light of our $2 million cost with no guarantee that the sand bars won’t move and block the intake?
Outlook needs to strengthen its ties with our regional friends and partners. We need our neighbours. We must lead in the move towards more regional cooperation.
I’m sure other people have their own thoughts. Speak to the candidates, carefully read what they stand for and then wisely consider who can do the best for Outlook. PLEASE VOTE.
Tony Peter
Outlook, SK
