Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008 |
It doesn't appear Colin Kinsley will be at a lack for anything to do as he leaves the mayor's chair.
From consulting work to sitting on boards, both volunteer and corporate, Kinsley said he's been fielding several offers and requests but is still deciding what to do with all his newfound free time.
"I just don't want to go back to 80-hour weeks, that's all," he said during a chat with local media following his last full council meeting on Monday. "I want to get vacations, like regular people."
Asked about the challenges the new council will face, Kinsley said the main one will be to attract investment and maintain the city's growth in these tough economic times.
"If you've got new construction coming on, you're growing the tax base," he said. "It's that new tax base that helps pay those costs that are locked in, like the RCMP contract and collective agreements with our workforce and energy costs."
Only about 15 per cent of the city's budget is discretionary, Kinsley added, and without growth maintaining the city's current levels of service will be difficult.
"Continuing to attract investment to the city and growing the economy is going to be very important and I think that's going to be the hardest thing going forward," he said.
However, he said city hall is in good financial shape although a major snowfall could create problems for the snow removal budget where the reserve was reduced to $40,000 by the end of 2007. $4.07 million has been budgeted for the service this year, $54,000 more than last year.
He characterized the new council as young and balanced between seasoned veterans and new member and between those with expertise in business and in social issues.
"I think that's a nice balance and we've had several councils like that over the years," he said. "And this isn't the first time we've had a change of four people either. It happened in 1999 and it happened in 2002."
Almost all northern B.C. communities have new mayors but Kinsley wasn't reading to much into it noting several had decided not to seek re-election in the first place.
"There was change in the air throughout the province, but there was three years ago," he said. "I think 50 per cent changed three years ago."
Looking back, Kinsley said his proudest moment was chairing the northern medical program community action group and then seeing the first crop of doctors graduate from the University of Northern British Columbia this spring.
"It was pretty touching," he said.
As for regrets, Kinsley said he doesn't really have any although he admits to making mistakes.
"We've had some controversy but just because it's controversial doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do," he said. "I subscribe to two things: The most popular thing to do isn't necessarily the most right thing and the right thing to do isn't necessarily the most popular.
"And the other thing that I believe in strongly is that men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than men who do nothing and succeed."
Kinsley said the challenges and work he's faced over his 12 years as mayor have been immense, "and that's only been overshadowed by the rewards -- to see an issue in a neighbourhood being taken care of or resolving an issue for one individual citizen or having a bridge done or an airport expansion or imagine fighting for a decade to have some weigh scales move and it finally happens. None of these projects are easy."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 November 2008 )
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