Stephen Vance, Staff
Meaford Mayor Barb Clumpus, along with her fellow members of council, hosted their annual New Year levee at Meaford Hall on Sunday, January 3, and with one year under her belt as mayor, Clumpus is excited for the year to come.
“I’m excited (about the year to come), I’m determined to keep on trucking, to keep the momentum going, to keep the excitement going,” the mayor told The Independent when asked her thoughts on the coming year. “We’re doing a number of things, there’s some innovative and creative ways of looking at things, which I am delighted to see.”
Clumpus said that she was proud of the first year of this council term, her first year as mayor.
“I am so proud of the team that our residents have put together here. They really have risen to the occasion, we are working so well together, we’ve got a terrific council, very strong, opinionated? Yes, as you would expect. And we have an equally strong and committed staff. We’ve seen some turnarounds, and I just am so proud of them all for the work they’ve accomplished, and we’ve accomplished a lot,” said Clumpus.
The mayor said that the list of her council’s accomplishments in 2015 is lengthy, and she is hoping to build on that first year of experience.
“I started to do my year-end report card, and listing all of the things we’ve been able to do and to accomplish, and it’s quite remarkable, and it bodes well for the future because it speaks to the level of commitment and dedication we have to weather the storms as they come along, but also to make decisions that are going to move this community ahead,” said the mayor.
Clumpus said that of all of council’s accomplishments in 2015, the completion of the five-year strategic plan tops the list.
“It was a very solid strategic planning process. We began on December 8 of last year, and it took us a while, we had many, many meetings. But that really pulled the team together, it strengthened everybody’s skills, and it came out with a plan that is doable, achievable, it’s ambitious,” offered Clumpus.
Looking forward to 2016, the mayor is excited, and when asked what her top priorities will be, she said that she will continue to focus on reaching out to the entire community, and is looking forward to the highly anticipated service delivery review.
“Certainly continuing to establish a good communication pattern. Getting out to visit all corners of the municipality. We obviously have our service delivery review coming up, we have an implementation plan for the strategic plan that has to be accomplished, so from that perspective I think everything will fall into place, then we can get on to our service delivery review, and that will see a lot of our employees shine as they bring forward ideas about how we can accomplish our end goal, which is cost savings and more efficiencies,” explained Clumpus.
One of the municipal services that will be on the top of everyone’s mind now that snow has finally arrived will be winter road control services, which will be subject to some experimentation this coming winter as was reported in December.
“I like the idea of trial and error, and taking calculated risks in terms of service delivery, that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what’s going to make the difference in terms of us being able to accomplish our goals,” said Clumpus.
Overall, the mayor expects 2016 to be an exciting year in Meaford. “I’m excited. I think there’s a lot to be thankful for, there’s a lot to be excited about, and we’ve got a great team to do it.”
