Previous work by council not a 'mess'
I contemplated on whether to write this letter. Since I was Mayor for 20 years I felt I should not comment on town matters and allow the new council to move forward with what ever agenda they saw fit. My decision to write today changed when one of the current councilors, Mrs. Applin, wrote a reply to a letter to the editor, written by Mr. Turton. Mr. Turton certainly had some valid concerns in his letter, but that is not what I want to address.
My response today is a result of a couple of things the councilor said. The councilor in her reply, stated, and I quote 鈥淢ight I remind Mr. Turton, that Mayor Derdall and I were elected largely to clean up the mess created by previous councils of which Mr. Turton was a part.鈥� Now I could have sloughed this off, and I did for a while, at first it made me chuckle as it sounded like a reference to an old western movie where the law is brought in to clean up the town!! As time wore on, however, the comment did begin to bother me, and not because she took a shot at me but because she besmirched all of the councilors I worked with for 20 years.
Now, if the councilor is right in her assertion that the town was a 鈥渕ess鈥� as she describes it, then I would like to apologize to the people of our community who felt that way, after all I was Mayor and so it falls on me. But it鈥檚 a little bit ironic that she scolds Mr. Turton to focus on the positive things Outlook has to offer while she herself refers to it as a 鈥渕ess鈥�! I don鈥檛 believe you can have it both ways.
Before I close, however, and on behalf of the councilors that worked with me over those 20 years, I wish to reflect on the 鈥渕ess we created鈥�.
1. Constructed a Health Centre and Medical Clinic (with the help of neighboring municipalities and villages.)
2. New Lagoon
3. Built the Curling Rink
4. Corner of McKenzie and Sask. Million dollar + project that cost the town $0.
5. Continued a program and finished replacing all of our underground water lines throughout town. (Find me a town our size that can make that claim.)
6. Acquired the cottages behind the Health Centre. Cost $1.00.
7. Acquired the Quadra Building, $60,000.00 (paid for and now generates approx. $12,000.00/yr. to our building reserve fund, or used to.)
8. Put in 4 residential subdivisions ---all sold out!! Also helped add approx. 350 people to the town, many young people w/families which was a demographic direly needed in the community.
The above totals up to approximately $25,000,000.00 of infrastructure.
As of April 2016 we had $2.95 million in reserves. ($671,925.00 water reservoir reserve, $285,120.00 in a pool reserve, $1,582,704.00 in unspecified reserve, $81,000.00 Civic Centre reserve, $56,000.00 in Bldg. reserve, & $77,5445.00 in Health Services reserve, plus a number of smaller funded reserves. This information is from the 2016 Budget Reserve Plan.
The majority of councilors I worked with were conscientious, ethical and hard working. The above are some of the things we oversaw between approximately 2002 to 2016. These are not the accomplishments of council but the accomplishments of the town, the ratepayers of the Town of Outlook.
So if this is the so called mess we left Outlook in so be it, but I don鈥檛 think those I worked with should be hanging their heads! Furthermore, a claim of the 鈥渕ost transparent council in Outlook鈥檚 history鈥� made by the councilor--is a claim I will need a little time to respond to because it should be addressed.
Bob Stephenson
Outlook, Sask.
