Summer is here and it is the season for our district work crews to be out and about working hard on projects throughout town. I am asking that as you travel to participate in all our amazing outdoor recreation activities that you take care to respect flag people and the work crews.

District staff are very dedicated and committed to doing their best to make Squamish a town we can all be proud of. You may have seen them working to clean up the island on Cleveland at the entrance to town. I would encourage you to check out the fantastic hanging baskets and planters downtown.

For the past month or so we have been without a CAO since Mr. Ramsay took a career-advancing move to Port Moody. During this time I have worked much closer with all the staff than I normally would if we had a CAO.

I have been very impressed with the obvious sense of dedication, commitment, and passion about serving the people of Squamish to the best of their abilities. The other day at 10:45 p.m., I sent an email to our chief building inspector to ask a question, expecting an answer in the morning, but he replied immediately because he was still in the office just completing a building permit application.

Last week we had a staff presentation for council. One of our planners who did some amazing work on the project was on maternity leave but attended the council meeting to make sure that any questions council might have would be sure to be answered.

Just a few days ago the Smoke Bluff Park Committee offered to take council on a guided familiarization tour of the park and wouldn’t you know it: We had staff on the tour from 7 to 9 p.m. to ensure that the district parks department would be able to cooperate and coordinate with the committee.

These are just a few examples that I have experienced in the past month or so and I have seen many more in every department of the organization. Your mayor and council are elected to serve this amazing community and yet we can accomplish very little without the support of the capable, competent employees. I am pleased to report that we are very fortunate to have a great team that are dedicated and passionate to work together with council to ensure that daily, we are one team working for the same goal: to make Squamish an even more fantastic place to live than it is already.

Your questions about what projects the district is undertaking can be answered by consulting our website, email mayor@squamish.ca or a phone call to the district office.