State of the City Address 2012

Spoke about last year – trends

• YACCS Strategic Plan – Seniors’ needs to the future.
• Housing Sales up, 775 building permits for over 60,000,000.
• New Construction – Brick / Gallery / New Residential Housing.

Visitors

• Mike Holmes, Gordie & Marty Howe, Western Premiers, CCME, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Consuls General, Duke and Duchess of York, St. Theresa De Gaspe/CDETNO, National Sledge Hockey Team, President of the B.M.O., GG, Rick Hansen. 
• Adding to Ice Road Truckers and Ice Pilots we now have Arctic Air providing additional tourism promotion.

Conferences

• Climate Change and NWT Communities, Truth Reconciliation Commission, National Aboriginal Capital Corporation, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Dominion Land Surveyors, PNER, Circumpolar Ungulates, Geosciences and this year the Canadian Medical Association with 700 quests in August – be ready.

Invites

• Northern Leaders, NADC, Anchorage, GFOA, Alberta Innovates -Circumpolar 2050, BMO Alberta Banking AGM - Invitations from areas looking to learn from our success. There is a strong admiration for Yellowknife’s success outside our community.

Fun

• Float Plane Fly-in, Folk on the Rocks, Duck Race - Canadian Tire, Old Town Ramble and Ride, SPCA Ground Breaking, CNIB One Foot Garden, Op Grizzly and now Arctic Ram.

Personal

• Trip to Columbia for Son Chris’s Wedding / Grandson, Noah, Born in October / my Uncle Leonard’s 100^th Birthday.

Forward

• Long John Jamboree – HMCS Yellowknife – Betty House – Youth Substance Abuse – Airshow – the 117 private planes coming July 15^th.
• General Plan completed demonstrating the need for 1500 more housing units – incenting P&D to accelerate support to developers.
• Homes North – met with Les Rocher last week to clarify what he wants versus what the City can do. This item should come back to Council within the next week or so.
• Northlands – after refusals from the Federal Government and GNWT and with the City legislatively restricted from investing in private land, Council instructed our Administration to work with the Condo Board toward an MOU outlining what can be done. Their first meeting has already identified some savings.
• Harbour Commission – the draft final report is on the website for comment or question. Please take a look within the next week as one of the key areas is economic development.
• Asset Management – all communities are required to look at their infrastructure and determine the urgency of closing the gap. We are working with a Committee from industry, property management, the Chamber and the Construction Association to develop a strategy. Our deficit is over $70 million and we remain desirous to maintain our record of keeping any tax increases below cost of living so we are looking to solid alternatives to the status quo.
• Community Energy Plan – we still need to quantify our reductions to achieve PCP qualification – a commitment from 1998.
• District Energy Project /Geothermal – in recent years we began studying an interesting concept and a great business plan, the community did not want us to borrow to finance the project, however as it was attractive, several large private providers entered into discussion with the City and we are currently working with Corix (the company who manufactured and installed the last 7 or 8 water treatment facilities for NWT Communities). We anticipate the results of their research by March and if still positive, the next step will be to determine the market.
• Customer Service initiatives at City Hall over the next year will strive to provide the best service anywhere in town.
• I mentioned the Seniors Society earlier and there is another group reaching out to our Community. The Association for Community Living is launching an inclusive employment program as over 10% of the NWT working age population lives with a disability. To promote the blend of talent, skills and personalities from among their members, YKACL has an outreach program championed by their Job Coach, Gordon Ross, or just catch Lynn Elkin who is here today.
• ...and Habitat for Humanity is finally a reality in Yellowknife, looking for volunteers for this summer’s projects.

So, that’s life in the best City in Canada to now. This is my 12^th “State of the City Address” and traditionally in an Election Year; I use this venue to announce my intentions. At this time, with the City being in somewhat better shape than I found it and with different people involved in the process and operation, I will not be running for re-election this fall.

I do want to thank the Chamber of Commerce and the Community for their support, suggestions and even criticism over the years. Remember, what you are all doing contributes to what makes this City my favorite in Canada – and hopefully, yours.

We have 9 months to go, so let’s keep it up.

All the best and thank you,