Mayor's Question — Nelson's Biggest Challenge
By Nelson Daily Staff
Nelsonites head to the polls Saturday, October 20 to elect a new council and mayor for the next four years.
There are three candidates vying for the Mayor’s Chair — incumbent Deb Kozak and challengers John Dooley and Bern Brown.
Leading up to election day, The Nelson Daily will try to help voters determine who’s best to chart the course for the Heritage City through the next four years with our Mayor’s Question of the Week.
Today’s question focuses on the challenge facing Mayor and Council during the next term of office. Unfortunately, challenger Bernie Brown did not respond to calls from The Nelson Daily.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Nelson as the new city council enters the next four-year term and how you plan to deal with it?
Incumbent Deb Kozak
The most pressing issue for the next council is wildfire and emergency response. Recently, Nelson’s Fire Chief Len MacCharles, presented recommendations for emergency response that the next council will guide into action. This includes the establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre that will work closely with the RDCK. Further emergency planning initiatives will be enhanced along with a robust community education program. Nelson’s population can swell to well over 16,000 people each day with people coming to work, going to school, shopping or visiting. It is important that schools, senior’s facilities, the hospital and other services have solid plans in place that are connected to a centralized emergency response.
In the short term, and specifically in regards to wildfire, this council has been working with others to coordinate wildfire mitigation projects. You can read a synopsis here.
Once of the biggest issues in regards to wildfire is reaching private forest landowners. I met with the Executive Director of the Private Forest Landowner Association at the recent Union of BC Municipalities conference and strongly recommended that they join local governments in a coordinated effort to reduce risk through forest management. I’m happy to report that they will be coming to Nelson in early October to meet with the city and regional district. It is a great beginning to this process. In the meantime, city residents can take advantage of the fire department’s free service to assess your home and reduce fire risk. Give them a call at 250-352-3103.
Challenger John Dooley
I believe the biggest challenge facing the City of Nelson can be boiled down to one word – leadership. I want to re-instill confidence that the Mayor and Council are leading the City in the right direction. Our citizens want to be confident that tax dollars are being spent wisely, and that staff resources are being utilized effectively.
The Mayor and Council are stewards of the City and need to provide the oversight and leadership that enables staff to do their jobs. Good leaders aren’t afraid to make decisions: When decisions aren’t made, a void is created that is frustrating to staff who don’t get a chance to wrap things up and move on to other priorities.
The initial challenge will be to develop, with Council and staff, the priorities for the coming year. My 15 years of proven leadership at City Hall, including 9 as Mayor, will give me the capacity to mentor and guide the new Council so they will become fully functional in a short period of time. Having worked as both a member and leader of 5 previous councils, I feel confident in my ability to lead our new Council in pursuing the direction that will move the City forward and to provide the leadership to enable staff to stick with identified priorities.
As a leader, I pride myself in keeping my ear to the ground and responding to what I hear from our citizens.
