Smithers mayor Taylor Bachrach has announced he wants to hold onto the top job at town council for the next four years, and with no challengers coming forward, he will get his wish.
The mayor considers his first three years in office as very productive.
“I think everyone in Smithers can be proud of where our community is positioned today. We've just had a banner year in terms if private investment. We've gotten a lot of major projects completed in the past term; and certainly everyone I've talked to who comes here from other places remarks at how vibrant the community feels,” said Bachrach.
Highlights pointed to by the mayor included curbside program.
“It's a service people have talked about for a long time wanting. I just think in the 21st century it's the kind of thing that people expect, that we'll be responsible with our solid waste. The transition to the program's been smooth. It's been really well received, almost universally positive feedback,” said Bachrach.
Next on the list of accomplishments for the mayor was the new arena.
“I'm really pleased we've built it in a way that keeps as many of the jobs local as possible. I think it's going to be a facility we can all be proud of,” said Bachrach.
“At the same time we've taken care of a lot of core infrastructure needs. Some of those aren't the sexiest projects, we don't talk about them a lot. It's very important that we maintain what we have, so we've done water looping projects; we've increased the amount of paving we do every year,”said Bachrach.
“I think taking responsibility for the upkeep of our infrastructure is something that this council takes very seriously.”
Bachrach said he plans on keeping an open door policy.
“One of the things that I really wanted to accomplish was to change the way the town communicates with people in the community; to be more pro-active; to be more engaged in community events; and to really let people know what's going on and invite people into the conversation about where we're going as a community.”