Kitchener City Politics 2010-2014

[UrbanWaterloo]

Kitchener City Politics 2010-2014

http://www.wonderfulwaterloo.com/election/KitchenerCityHall.png

Mayor: Carl Zehr
Ward 1: Scott Davey
Ward 2: Berry Vrbanovic
Ward 3: John Gazzola
Ward 4: Yvonne Fernandes
Ward 5: Kelly Galloway
Ward 6: Paul Singh
Ward 7: Bil Ioannidis
Ward 8: Zyg Janecki
Ward 9: Frank Etherington
Ward 10: Daniel Glenn-Graham

Inaugural Meeting: December 6, 2010

http://www.wonderfulwaterloo.com/wdrive/Politics/Kitchener%20City%20Politics/SAM_3452%20Resized.JPG

[UrbanWaterloo]

Kitchener's new city council declared to office
Kitchener | December 6, 2010 | http://www.kitchener.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?newsId=0PlUsZElY3hMfNMPUxT4ThUlQeQuAleQ uAl

Kitchener’s new city council took their declarations of office tonight in an occasion marked by Mayor Carl Zehr’s inaugural address. Kitchener’s new city council is made up of:


Mayor Carl Zehr
Ward 1 - Councillor Scott Davey
Ward 2 - Councillor Berry Vrbanovic
Ward 3 - Councillor John Gazzola
Ward 4 - Councillor Yvonne Fernandes
Ward 5 - Councillor Kelly Galloway
Ward 6 - Councillor Paul Singh
Ward 7 - Councillor Bil Ioannidis
Ward 8 - Councillor Zyg Janecki
Ward 9 - Councillor Frank Etherington
Ward 10 - Councillor Dan Glenn-Graham

Entitled “History in the Making,” the mayor’s address encouraged the new council to continue to focus on the community’s top six priorities: leadership and community engagement, quality of life, diversity, development, dynamic downtown and the environment. He also highlighted the community’s collective vision, “Together, we will build an innovative, caring and vibrant Kitchener with safe and thriving neighbourhoods,” which was developed during the 2010 “Who are you, Kitchener?” campaign.

“As I see it, as council moves forward, we need to respect our community’s priorities and vision and use them as the foundation on which our decisions are made,” Zehr said. “This isn’t about us as a council. It’s about us as a community. Over the next four years, challenges will present themselves. However, these priorities and vision give us the foundation and the focus needed to make important decisions about the future of our community.”

The mayor cited examples of the success and the progress achieved in recent years including revitalizing Kitchener’s downtown through strategic investments in emerging economic clusters, such as life sciences, digital media and advanced manufacturing. He also noted that services and amenities were enhanced citywide through, for example, the addition or expansion of community centres and arenas, and the development and redevelopment of parks and natural areas.

In addition, Mayor Zehr pointed out that these investments were accomplished while maintaining one of the lowest property taxes of similar sized cities in the province. In reality, municipalities deliver numerous services, programs and activities while receiving only eight cents of every tax dollar collected by all orders of government.

“We need to work cooperatively with other orders of government to ensure that they acknowledge the need for change to the funding mechanisms for municipalities,” the mayor stated.

With 2011 budget discussions soon to be underway, the mayor also assured citizens their tax dollars will continue to be used efficiently and effectively.

“As a council, I believe that we need to develop the will and the foresight to avoid making decisions that may benefit our citizens only in the short term but which do not fit with our established long term strategic vision for our community. Such decisions often result in greater costs in the future,” Zehr said. “Therefore, we will work collectively to ensure that the decisions we are making are the right decisions, the best decisions, in the short term and the long term.”

In addition to the Mayor’s inaugural address, city council approved the recommendations of a Striking Committee Report, which among other things, elected the following councillors to serve as chairs and vice-chairs of council’s three standing committees:

Finance and Corporate Services Committee
Chair – Councillor John Gazzola
Vice-Chair – Councillor Scott Davey

Community & Infrastructure Services Committee
Chair – Councillor Kelly Galloway
Vice-Chair – Councillor Paul Singh

Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee
Chair – Councillor Berry Vrbanovic
Vice-Chair – Councillor Zyg Janecki

[KevinL]

Very cool to see the council tables almost full! Should be interesting once we get some real discussion and debate going.

[Brenden]

A Kitchener City Councilor is doing a Ask Me Anything on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/fa3zh/iama_person_who_became_tired_of_complaining_about/), I think its Scott Davey but he has not said.
The title of the post is IAmA person who became tired of complaining about politicians, so I ran for city council with no experience... and won. (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/fa3zh/iama_person_who_became_tired_of_complaining_about/)

[Waterlooer]

Kitchener best city hall in region, survey suggests
Feb 7, 2011 | The Record | Link (http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/482441--kitchener-best-city-hall-in-region-survey-suggests)


WATERLOO REGION — Kitchener provides residents with the best balance of cost and service, an annual survey of local city halls suggests.

The Record compared three city governments against each other to show how they performed for taxpayers in 2009, based on 45 recently released government benchmarks. This assessment shows:

Kitchener provides the highest level of service at a middle cost. Overall rank: First.

“Am I pleased that we come out reasonably well on this? There’s no question about that,” Mayor Carl Zehr said. He said the city seeks to balance cost and effectiveness. “I think there’s good value there,” he said...

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this or not.

[Spokes]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this or not.

As good of a spot as any!

Definitely some interesting facts there. I think they're all doing well, but there are improvements all can make. Hopefully they use this as a way to target those improvements.