The Inaugural Address Of Mayor Mark Gerretsen
The following is the text of the inaugural address of Mayor Mark Gerretsen, delivered in Council Chambers Tuesday, December 7, 2010.
Introduction
Your Worship, Minister, members of City Council, ladies and gentlemen:
MAYOR GERRETSEN
To begin, I wish to offer my sincere congratulations to all you who were elected to represent the great people of Kingston over the next four years.
In turn, I would also like to offer my appreciation to the many residents of our community who voted in this municipal election and who saw fit to choose me and my new colleagues on City Council to represent them.
From an early age, I learned the importance of public service and the positive impact citizens can have on a community. As many of you know, politics appears to be in my blood: something I only learned myself a short time ago. I am, of course, referring to the fact that this is not the first time "Mayor Gerretsen" has been said in this historic room. Many years ago — many years ago — another Gerretsen, my father John, presided over council in this very room. And although many people have placed significance us being the first father/son combination in over 100 years, I would like to clarify, that this recognition is actually of little importance. The real recognition, the real acknowledgement of this combination, is actually bestowed upon the great lady who now holds the title of being both a wife and mother of a Mayor of Kingston: my mother, Assunta Gerretsen.
Council Relations
During the election I made a commitment to maintain a tone around the Council horseshoe based on professionalism and courteousness.
Having had the opportunity to meet with each member of this new council, I am confident that the people of Kingston have selected the best men and women to represent the diverse interests of our community. I've appreciated our conversations and the opportunity to learn more about the backgrounds and unique skills and passions each councillor possesses. I know that as a collective team these fine men and women will strive to make our great city an even better place to live for everyone.
I commit to you today that my term as mayor will be one based on openness and the free flow of communication amongst our community as a whole. I will strive to engage the public in all ways possible. I will utilize the newest technologies, as well as rely on proven traditional methods, to keep our residents engaged and informed. Only with the maximum effort to engage the public will we expose ourselves to all the information necessary to make the most informed decisions on their behalf.
Of course, as a council we may not always agree, but I am confident a new way of communicating in these chambers, and beyond our formal debates, a way based on respect and appreciation of all rational arguments, will dictate our tone and improve our collective image as a governing entity and with each other.
The issues we face and the decisions we make affect each and every one of our fellow residents. We have an enormous responsibility and obligation to all work together in a way that respects the process and the need for information to make good decisions.
The Four Pillars
We live in an amazing city. A city filled with endless possibilities and opportunities. And it is up to us to ensure we are creating and enhancing those for our residents.
We have a robust local economy dependant on both a strong, stable public sector, as well as an innovative and ever changing private sector. We have valued social programs throughout our community which are embraced by many residents. Our community is rich in cultural and historic attributes envied by most other cities. And our commitment to environmental sustainability is amongst the best in the country. Kingston is the best place to live!
This is not an indication that the work of our municipal government will ever be complete. We have been given this great opportunity by the electorate to continue to be at the cutting edge of all four pillars of sustainability; economic, social, environmental and cultural, and always be looking ahead to make Kingston an even better place to live and work.
ECONOMIC
To build a strong local economy, I believe we have to do two important things: first, we must have effective management of our taxes in order to keep them as low as possible; and second, we must encourage new business opportunities in our region to keep our private sector job base resilient and well equipped for the ever changing global economy.
As mayor, I plan to deliver efficient and well managed budgets by ensuring the process maximizes our ability to oversee spending by ensuring the right materials are presented and the right practices are set in place.
Practises that will breakdown the formalities we have seen in the past while encouraging open and healthy debate on the real issue: aligning the allocation of our tax dollars.
To accomplish this, we as council will set targeted strategic goals used to measure against our budget to ensure the monies are allocated in the right direction. Another crucial step to make sure our taxes are kept to a minimum comes on the income side of the equation. We need to ensure we are receiving proper payment for the services we are providing. Reviewing items such as the heads and beds payment in lieu of taxes program with the provincial government is one avenue we will explore.
Municipalities across the province are not getting a fair shake from this provincial program intended to compensate cities for providing provincial educational and hospital facilities. A wise person once said "there is strength in numbers" and as Mayor I intend to partner with other Ontario municipalities affected and encourage them to come together in a unified front to ensure our cities are getting the resources they are entitled to from this program.
I have been encouraged by my initial conversations with members of this new Council and discussions I have with other municipal leaders in approaching the provincial government to resolve this long-term neglect which dates back to the late 1980s.
By coming together and aligning ourselves with other Ontario municipalities heavily affected by the reluctance of the Ontario Government to properly increase this funding, and by using precedence set in other parts of the country by the Supreme Court of Canada, I believe we can encourage the Government of Ontario to work with us to find a solution we can all live by. I will start working on this immediately.
In Ontario, the fastest growing sector of the economy is in renewable energies. This job market is booming. In Kingston we see it all around us and industry leaders are starting to define Kingston as the hub of this new and prosperous industry.
Much of this work is already underway in our community. Queen's University has identified renewable energies as an important aspect of their research and development programs. St. Lawrence College now offers first-of-their-kind technician training programs in this field.
In the private sector a number of companies have recently announced operations in our region such as the building the high tech tools to develop wind turbine components and a solar panel manufacturing facility in Kingston. We have an amazing opportunity to tap into this new economic activity much like Ottawa did in the 1990s with the tech boom they experienced.
As Mayor, I will work with KEDCO to build on the great work they have already done in this field and will establish a regional Task Force to make sure that we are prepared to attract this booming sector of the economy from an incentive, infrastructure, planning and labour-force perceptive.
SOCIAL
To ensure that we continue to deliver reliable and predictable social services in Kingston, I believe we must work together on two important issues in our community. First, we must ensure the proper services and resources are in place for our senior citizens; and second, we must aggressively continue to build quality, mixed-income, affordable housing throughout our municipality.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of senior citizens worldwide will more than double in the next few decades. In fact, the W.H.O. predicts that by the year 2017, for the first time in recorded human history, there will be more seniors living throughout the globe than children under the age of 14. In keeping with the W.H.O.'s recommendation of creating "age-friendly cities" to prepare for this massive change to the demographic makeup of our community, I am committed to working with the different seniors organizations in our community to develop an approach on how to best deliver effective and consistent services to the seniors of our community.
Similar to the plans already established by other cities such as Brampton, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta, our plan must address, from a policy perspective, how to properly deliver the eight following services in terms on being "age-friendly":
- outdoor spaces and buildings;
- transportation;
- housing;
- social participation;
- respect and social inclusion;
- civic participation and employment;
- communication and information; and finally
- community support and health services.
Putting forth a plan to make our city "age-friendly" is crucial to sustainability in our community and part of our responsible social plan for Kingston.
With respect to affordable housing, there is still much work to be done in Kingston. Regrettably, this is a part of the social foundation of our community which we have been struggling with in recent years.
It is my firm belief that housing is a basic human right. And it is absolutely incumbent upon us to guarantee all members in our community have access to safe and affordable places to live. Facilitating the constructing of affordable housing is how we can make this a reality. And, we cannot afford to wait.
I support truly-mixed-integrated affordable housing. Building so called 'ghettos', complexes or separate projects have proven unsuccessful time and time again. We must be extremely cautious not to fall into the trap of repeating history as it can be very easy to accept this as the only form of affordable housing. To genuinely achieve integrated affordable housing we should not be able to identify units as "affordable" when we drive past them. Incorporating affordable housing into our community not only benefits those in need, but it also helps to break down stereotypes and misconceptions that quite often are associated with it.
To build more affordable housing in Kingston we must work together in the four following areas:
- We must continue to work with the federal and provincial governments for more funding;
- We must have an immediate action plan in place so that if and when we are successful at getting funding we know exactly how to utilize it;
- We must work on our administrative processes to effectively mobilize plans faster and more efficiently; and lastly,
- We must continue to consider matching contributions made by our provincial and federal governments, which increases the base funding available.
- As a council we must continue to remain a strong partner in developing mixed community affordable housing plans. I am committed to working with my colleagues around the council table to see this become a reality, quickly, so we can continue to provide the necessary housing to our residents in need.
ENVIRONMENT
Protecting our environment is a key component to ensuring that we leave behind an even better, more prosperous place filled with great opportunities, for our children and grand-children. Doing this will require outside-the-box thinking when considering how to deal with the ingrained wasteful habits we have come to regard as acceptable. Time is running out and we must all play a part in protecting our environment.
As Mayor, I will work with council to make certain the decisions we make will be mindful of the environmental impacts on our community and the world as a whole. Three courses of action which I believe we must take are:
First, we must expand our existing recycling facilities to ensure all forms of recycling are available to all residents of Kingston as well as commercial operations where and when feasible. Doing this will ensure that we are maximizing our ability to divert perfectly recyclable material from landfills;
Second, we need a transit system that is better coordinated throughout the municipality to mobilize and transport the people living in Kingston more quickly. Accomplishing this task will work towards solving so many problems we face such as traffic, parking and green house gas emissions;
And third, we need to encourage greater participation of the residents of Kingston engaging in the programs focusing on sustainability. Whether through the installation of solar panels or the education of waste reduction, we must to do more to develop the best programs and opportunities available to help protect our planet.
As Mayor, I am committed to working with council to ensure that all three of these goals are met in an effort to make certain we leave as minimal an impact on our planet as possible.
CULTURE
Finally, we have boundless possibilities in our arts, culture and tourism industries in Kingston. We live in a part of the country envied by many. Our connection to Canadian history mixed with our social diversity and vibrant arts community is second to none. For so long we have struggled in our attempts to properly showcase these unique attributes to our residents and visitors.
Recently, the City of Kingston adopted the Culture Master Plan. This new plan sets out how to protect, enhance and promote the culture of our great city. I am a keen supporter of this plan and I look forward to working with council to implement the recommendations as we move forward into our council term.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honour and humility that I sit here before you tonight addressing you for the first time as your new mayor. This is a role which I do not take lightly. I understand the immense responsibility you have graciously bestowed upon me. And it is with this understanding that I will encourage council to push a progressive agenda to make our community everything we know it can be.
Members of council, today we embark upon this journey together. A journey that will undoubtedly be challenging and require patience and appreciation for each other and our individual points of view and diverse goals. I know after meeting with each of you, compromise and respect for each other and the process will be at the forefront of every deliberation we face and decision we make over the next four years. I am absolutely honoured to be taking this historic journey with the 12 of you.
We live in an amazing city with a quality of life amongst the best in the world. It is with great pride that I take on the responsibility of leading this council. By working together, respecting each other and listening to our residents, I know we will continue to protect our great quality of life while making Kingston an even better place to live.
