Ready to serve another four years as mayor of Abbotsford

The rumour is true; I’m ready to serve another four years as your mayor in Abbotsford.

And I’m pleased to enter this year’s mayoral race knowing Abbotsford has reached new levels of economic, organizational, and social health because of the exhaustive efforts of City of Abbotsford management, staff, and my colleagues around the council table.

Fiscal discipline and organizational alignment lead to effective service delivery

This term, we’ve achieved fiscal discipline, which means our financial house is in order. The City of Abbotsford now has strong, consistent governance and aligned operations we refer to as organizational alignment. We’ve made development decisions based on our long-term strategies and are not swayed from our community vision by short-term gains.

We recognize the importance of certainty in community building and that our rules and bylaws are critical to protecting the livability of our city. We support efficient and effective delivery of our city services and programs and pursue excellence in customer service, striving to always provide a positive customer experience. We believe in an involved, safe, and engaged workforce.

Careful planning is essential if we want to create a vibrant city

When I decided to run for mayor four years ago, I said then that the community had so much going for it . . . “we just need to pull a lot of loose strings together . . . and I think people will be pleasantly surprised at the change in the city” at the next election, which this year is set for October 20.

Many of the people on my former campaign teams are returning to help, including Ruby Stobbe, who’ll run the campaign office. This year, I am happy to add Ken Baerg as campaign manager. Many of you know Ken as the founder and public face of Run for Water, which helps “bring profile and resources to impoverished people in Ethiopia.”

In 2014, I was told “nice guys don’t win.” I didn’t believe it then; I don’t believe it now. You won’t see your time wasted by mud-slinging from our campaign. If I happen to be the target, I will continue to state my case clearly and honestly on this blog, in face-to-face discussions, at public forums, and through my personal social media channels.

A complete community and vibrant economy add up to quality of life in Abbotsford

Abbotsford is more business friendly now, the city budget and five-year financial plan are sound, and the planning for a walkable, livable city continues to be intense. During the next four years, I plan to focus efforts on building both a

• complete community that includes heightened arts and culture, connected bike lanes, and making walking and transit easy and delightful, and
• vibrant economy, which means building and broadening our tax base (industrial development) so we can provide the things our community needs to enhance our quality of life.

As always, I’ll continue to work with governments at higher levels to support Abbotsford in its efforts to address important issues like poverty, homelessness, mental health, and addictions.

Read about the four cornerstones of Abbotsford’s strategic plan, 2015-2018 here.

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