It’s election time. Whistler has a new CAO and will have a different Council. Some key staff positions have been turning over. This term has been difficult and very different from 2005-2008 when I served on Council. What was missing this time around? Respect and teamwork. With fresh faces on staff and Council, Whistler needs a steady experienced leader in the Mayor’s chair.
I think Ken Melamed is best positioned to pull a new team together and get the RMOW back on track. He has seen a lot of change in his time at Municipal Hall. He has learned some tough lessons and has been willing to listen. He knows leadership. The other Councillors running for mayor have not shown this ability. They seem to have a cursory understanding of municipal financial management and they lack the leadership and team building experience that Ken has demonstrated.
The next Council has to shift gears and make positive change. This will not be achieved through a simple slash and burn approach. Ken led Whistler through the Olympics and has been a tireless ambassador for the resort and community. He remains the best choice to steward Whistler’s next chapter.
Tim Wake
Bowen Island
Experienced leadership needed
It’s all too easy to be an armchair mayor; the real chair is a lot more uncomfortable. As much as it is a privilege to be mayor of Whistler, as I was for nine years (and councillor for another eight), it is equally stressful, demanding and complex.
There are times when you need nerves of steel, the patience of a saint and a skin as thick as a rhinoceros. From that perspective, when I look at the candidates running for mayor this year, I believe Ken Melamed is the best choice for the resort community.
I worked with both Ken and Nancy Wilhelm-Morden on council, and both are dedicated, hard-working and principled. However, I believe that Ken has proven himself, under considerable fire, as a leader and a strategist, who is able to look beyond what’s easy and popular, to what’s best for Whistler as a whole, in the long term.
Ken understands the immeasurable value of developing strong partnerships, particularly with other levels of government, and I know he has earned the respect and accolades of many leaders in tourism, sustainability and government, negotiating fiercely on behalf of the community and the residents he has so loyally served, nonstop, for the past 15 years on council.
Whistler is going through tough economic times. We all are. This calls for experienced leadership; for the ability to make tough decisions that might not win votes, but wins for the community; for an innate understanding of sustainability; and for the integrity and the courage to tell it like it is. That’s Kenny all over. I wish everyone good luck.
Hugh O’Reilly
Hawaii
Find the facts, not the rhetoric
Having served on council with three of the mayoral candidates, I feel compelled to share some insights.
There are a number of hot issues in this election: the asphalt plant, economy, staff wages etc. For the record I find it disturbing that many of these issues are being blamed on the current mayor yet both councillors Forsyth and Wilhelm-Morden were part of the decision-making process on many of these issues.
There has been a lot of rhetoric about Mayor Melamed not supporting business, yet I always found him to be fair and sympathetic. For example, Ken recognized the enormous benefit the Peak 2 Peak could provide business; Nancy on the other hand did not support the initiative. Is it coincidence that Whistler has had a series of summers with best-ever visitation since the Peak 2 Peak?
As a member of the Finance Committee as well as the Long-Term Financial Committee, I know that a zero per cent property tax increase means cuts. Take a lesson from Toronto and ask exactly where those cuts will be. “Cutting the fat” in Toronto has not been what the voters expected. Be sure you understand before you vote. As Mayor, Ken puts in untold hours, has integrity, honesty and an incredible passion for Whistler. Do not underestimate these qualities; he is the real deal.
The Mayor is to promote the community, be positive and to reflect the will of council, no matter how the mayor votes. Councillor Wilhelm-Morden repeatedly spoke publicly against council decisions she did not support and her columns were consistently negative. Not qualities Whistler deserves in a mayor. Before you vote, please find the facts behind the rhetoric.
Bob Lorriman
North Vancouver