Earning Your Trust
One of the biggest frustrations I hear of this Council is there has been a lack of genuine public engagement. I’ve felt this personally. Squamish is growing fast and our ways of communicating with one another haven’t kept pace with the amount of decision-making our growing town now requires.
As your Mayor, I'll work to change how we engage and communicate with the community so your input leads to real, impactful conversations and meaningful action.
How We Might Do This:
Council Meeting Notifications & Decision Explainers — We’ll bring back more informative “What’s Coming up at Council?” posts so you don’t have to click multiple links just to find the agenda. We will introduce a plain-language explainer, either one page of text or a short video, for all major Council decisions. What was decided, why the decision was made, and what it means for residents. Residents shouldn't need to read a 40-page staff report or watch hours of recorded council meetings to understand what was decided.
Monthly Office Hours — While you are welcome to schedule a meeting anytime, I’ll hold predictable monthly office hours that rotate across neighbourhoods. No agenda required. Simply an opportunity to connect and share what’s top of mind for you that day.
In Person Community Connection Events — Recurring in-person events where council, staff, and community come together to connect, build relationships, and foster understanding. These forum style events are an opportunity to get feedback on specific projects the District is working on, while creating a space where we learn concerns, suggestions, and perspectives directly from the community. We currently run this event annually as part of our budget engagement process and I want to do it more often.
A Community Advisory Assembly to inform the Official Community Plan Review— This isn’t just a committee for the sake of creating a committee. It would be a diverse group of everyday Squamish residents that is intentionally brought together. The committee membership would mirror the overall demographic profile of our town – renters and owners, young and old, racial and gender diversity. True representation from different parts of the community and different walks of life. The Assembly would focus on dialogue and deliberation of key policies, plans and projects that impact residents, and the delivery of advice and recommendations to both Council and staff. Examples of other communities that have successfully used this model are New Westminster and Gibsons. I suggest we trial this engagement model as a part of the next Official Community Plan review, which is earmarked for late 2027.
A Citizen Satisfaction Survey, Every Two Years — Building on the survey launched in 2025, this becomes a recurring, consistent measure of how we are doing as a community and as municipal government. Survey results will be publicly published every two years, with results tied directly back into our annual financial planning and strategic plan processes.
