1. Me:

I am a keen recreational cyclist and kayaker, spending much of my down-time walking our two small dogs (or vice versa!). My wife and I just celebrated our 41st anniversary, and our son lives in Airdrie, Alberta.

2. Life in Creston:

We moved to Creston in the summer of 2020 after a 6-month research process for a retirement destination that convinced us that nowhere else in the province would do.  Living in the valley is simply magical, and the variety of natural vistas seals the deal every time.  

3. Background:

Since 1981 I worked for the BC government in administration and project coordination, most recently with more than 25 years in Ministry of Tourism agencies: the Royal BC Museum, Tourism BC and then Destination BC, finally retiring in 2018.

4. Moving Forward:

Along with my experienced and exceptionally talented colleagues, I diligently research the hundreds of issues of varying complexity presented each year in thousands of pages of documents by our extremely capable town staff for our review and input.  This is a well-organized process supporting very efficient decision making. 

Dozens of emails to review/generate each week are also a fact of councillor life as are many external meetings.  All must be handled professionally and responsibly.

Our long-serving retiring team members (Mayor Toyota and Councillors Jen Comer and Joanna Wilson) have worked extremely hard to ensure that the evolving council can smoothly manage potential challenges far into the future.   We all owe you a huge debt of gratitude!

5. TEAM CRESTON!

Reasonably informed citizens will always recognize the critical value of a municipal team that works together pleasantly and professionally,  building on Creston's positive reputation and desirability.

A sustainable working balance can be achieved best by a responsible group of independent candidates that together represent the best interests of Creston and are capable of reliably doing the hard work necessary over the next four years through effective collaboration locally and with other organizations and levels of government. 

Out of a field of 16, the 7 successful candidates in the 2022 General Election were:

Mayor:
Arnold DeBoon

Councillor:
Monique Arès, Keith Baldwin, Denise Dumas,
Norm Eisler, Jim Elford, and Anthony Mondia

6. Creston Emergency Services Building - The Fire Hall:

Our new CESB is a huge accomplishment for a community the size of Creston, and one that we should be very proud of and celebrate as a long-term asset and shining icon of success for the community.

Ultimately the product of determination, courage and vision on the part of the Mayor and council together with senior Town administrators and the generous and forward-thinking support of the town's taxpayers, it is the tangible resolution of passionate debate and dedicated community involvement.  

7. My extended responsibilities:

Most councillors have a wide range of civic-related committee and conference obligations, and I have been pleased to be connected to some important and influential working groups (and a few with challenges!).  Typically this involves many extra hours of participation, research and travel.  I foresee my roles continuing to expand in the near future, and welcome the challenge!    

8. Why me?

I am impartial, fair, calm, respectful, and analytical.  I’ve taken the time to research the community (developing a dynamic reference website in the process). I have a vision to help support Creston become a desirable LIVE-WORK-PLAY community in the future.

I am committed to duty as an elected official and member of this important team. I use my administrative planning, reporting and analysis experience to responsibly serve the council team and the community as a whole. 

9. Values:

I am independent of any organizations that might otherwise attempt to exert influence over me or disrupt the effectiveness of Council.  I have absolutely no hidden agenda or adversarial motivations and will strive to keep the council as peaceful, professional and productive as possible.

I am values-driven and I will never dismiss a valid discussion (as long as it is reasonably within our civic jurisdiction - many popular issues aren't) on the basis of its source.  I'm here to help.

By way of illustration, here's a presentation I developed many years ago to celebrate the launch of Tourism BC’s ground-breaking Values initiative. I was part of the small project team that helped TBC cope with growing from a group of 47 staff to the globally-respected organization that Destination BC is today.  It's still relevant today here in Creston.