Barb Desjardins, Mayor of Esquimalt

Welcome to this 99th Inaugural meeting.
I would like to acknowledge and respect that we are within the Coast Salish
traditional territories.

Esquimalt is on the eve of being one
hundred years young.    There have been 46 previous councils, and as
of tonight, another new council will be sworn in.

I am very proud and humbled by the support of
the Esquimalt community allowing me to continue as your mayor for a second
term, and through this next special year. I want to express my thanks to my
husband and family for their support of me taking on this role for a second
term.The events of next year would not be
possible without the previous councils who have stewarded Esquimalt to what it
is today, the best place in the CRD to live work and play.

I want to first acknowledge the members of the
immediate past council, for their hard work and success in achieving much of
their strategic plan set out 3 long years ago.That plan was ambitious. Council’s
strategic plan set goals for economic, social and environmental changes for
Esquimalt. There were other issues that arose to add to
the challenges and to the successes.Councillors McIldoon, Gaul, Garrison,
and Linge , the community thanks you for your service these past 3 years and
the sacrifices you made to be here on behalf of your community.

I would like to make special
acknowledgment to the 21 years that Councillor Don Linge has given for
Esquimalt. Don has the record of longest consecutive
serving council member in the first 100 years of our township.Congratulations and you will be missed
in the next term Don.

I would also like to acknowledge the
hard work and dedication of our Esquimalt staff under the leadership of Mrs.
Laurie Hurst our CAO, in helping council reach its many goals.

Esquimalt is on the eve of its
centennial celebration. A formidable history of Coast Salish Nation
settlement, Hudson Bay farms and the Royal Navy had already occurred by 1912.Esquimalt village was a growing
community with a major ship building operation, hotels, stores and residential
areas scattered around them. It was the desire to access services, such as
water and sewage disposal lead the community to incorporation on Sept 1, 1912. Esquimalt’s
birthday celebration will start with the Levee and continue throughout the
year, with all community events having a centennial focus.

There are events for every season and every
month, too many to list, so please go to the Esquimalt website for more
information! The grand event will be held on September 8^th
 , at Esquimalt Gorge Park.It will be a feast for the senses, with
attractions for all ages as we recreate the activities and celebrations of old
with today’s flare.It will honour Esquimalt’s rich history,
celebrating who we are now, and what is yet to come for our community!

The memorial park centennial walkway of
paving stones, with your names, memories, and thoughts, will be a legacy for
all to participate in, especially this year but also for future generations. The centennial book will be a must for
Esquimalt families for their home library.These projects like the 2000 Time
Capsule which has only 88 years before being opened, will be legacies of
Esquimalt today, for the understanding of tomorrow’s community.

A third project, which I term Project: Esquimalt Shines, (taken from the name of
our Esquimalt centennial song) is a contest to show your pride of community
through home and garden enhancement. We hope for participation from all sectors
of the community and are working on ways to assist you to ‘dig Esquimalt’, and
make ‘Esquimalt Shine’ through discounts at local stores.

Three years ago the centennial select
committee was established. I want to acknowledge the members of this committee
who have completed 3/4 years of their mandate, the mandate to give Esquimalt a
centennial year to be proud of.This group of people initially lead by
Jennifer Parlee and carried on by Janet Jones and Bruce Devitt,are deserving of our thanks, and I know
the community will be proud of its centennial year activities and legacies.

This past fall gave many decisions that will shape Esquimalt’s future.The announcement of the Seaspan
national shipbuilding procurement strategy is a major one for Esquimalt. This
announcement and contract ensure 30 years of consistent work for our dockyard.It gives 800-1000 new jobs, and the
needed infrastructure investment of $30 million.This is only one contract on which
others will springboard because of the ability to train and keep a skilled work
force, and have the infrastructure for other jobs and shipbuilding.Esquimalt is well positioned by its
proximity, to benefit from the spin off economic development that will occur as
a result of this change at dockyard.

The fact that 4 new businesses have opened in
Esquimalt suggests there is already a new optimism about doing business in
Esquimalt. This council will be aggressive in working to
secure these spin off bonuses for our business and industrial communities.

The referendum question of this past election gave clear indication that the community supports moving forward with
the village core project.This is an opportunity to turn liability into asset.  It is my hope that
we can see changes on this property within this term.

It is unfortunate that only 2300 residents chose to voice their thoughts on this question, however, eligible voters
exercised their right, through their decision to vote or not to vote. We must try harder to get voters
engaged but we cannot ignore the voters that did respond and make their  preference known. It
is my desire that Esquimalt follow UBCM in supporting online voting for the next election in 2014.

There has been an increase in interest for development in Esquimalt and we must continue to provide quality service,
reduced red tape, and minimize processing times to encourage reputable developers to look to Esquimalt for their next projects.

We are changing the focus of our future Development Services Director position to including a strong economic development and tourism focus.This change will  provide the leadership and knowledge for Esquimalt to take advantage and improve our competitive edge.

As part of this change in focus for development services I have decided to restructure committees slightly. These changes will also assist Esquimalt in furthering our sustainability strategy.

Access Awareness Committee will no longer be a standing committee of council; however there is an ongoing and
increasing need for focus on accessibility both for our community facilities, infrastructure, and for new development in Esquimalt. It is because of this that council will be appointing 2 persons to participate at the advisory planning meetings with an accessibility focus.

I am also appointing one member of the environmental advisory committee to participate at APC with the same attention toward environmental aspects of planning that comes forward.

These special lenses toward access and environment will ensure greater interest from development to providing best practice, smart growth development. The appointment descriptions for both accessibility and environment appointments at APC, will be developed over the
next year. It is my hope that the current members of the committee will take on and assist to develop these roles during 2012.  I am also recommending that a former member of access awareness committee be appointed to Parks and Recreation to ensure the accessibility
lens is used there as well.

This council will develop and implement tax policies which enhance the business climate of Esquimalt. These policies will help our business
community to thrive and diversify, thus reducing  the tax burden on residents of Esquimalt. These policy changes   have not moved a well as I would have liked during my first term, so I intend to be very focused with this goal in the next one.

It has been almost a decade of police amalgamation for Esquimalt.  This marriage has been a challenge from the beginning but was necessary. It was initially thought that the promise of further amalgamation was imminent.  The VicPD Audit which was completed in 2010 gave recommendations to assist us toward resolving our ongoing concerns regarding the funding model, governance, and service delivery of policing in Esquimalt.

The Esquimalt Police Advisory and Law Enforcement Panel formed through Order in Council of the Province spent the past year and a half, consulting our public, developing criteria for service and an evaluation matrix, going out to service providers for options, and  finally, providing Police Services with a report as to the findings and the preferred service provision for Esquimalt.  We are continuing to work with the
Solicitor General’s office in this process and awaiting the Sol Gens response to our recommendation. Upon receiving this, a public process
will be started to ensure understanding and continued confidence in the safety, and police service provision for Esquimalt.

There have been concerns voiced about the in camera meetings and lack of information. Council and the advisory Panel are bound by the community charter section 90(1) (2) and by the Request for proposal provision to proponents to hold this information in camera until decisions
have been made at the Solicitor General level.  We have conducted a process of integrity and high quality and will see it to completion.

I have heard from my new council that there is a desire to move council toward a less paper intensive medium for both council meetings and for community access.  I support this direction toward greater access and look forward to developing goals for this within strategic planning in
January.Council meetings and agendas must move  out of the past 100 years and toward the future, using tools of social media  and internet where possible.

Esquimalt council will continue to  provide strong policy direction for regional challenges such as,  transportation, waste management, treaty resolution, and the regional  sustainability strategy development.

It is my view that priority one as a region,  is the need to solve the issue of our transportation gridlock, quickly and cost  effectively. We are losing productivity, and that,   turns  into a loss of competitive edge for economic development.

Governments do not have large amounts of money  to fund projects so priorities must be chosen and it is my view that transportation  should be that priority. Roads, public transit, multimodal  infrastructure are public domain; let’s focus on getting these systems working  for our region.

It is my view that integrated resource  management, IRM, has become an proven way forward for waste management. We cannot continue to landfill and look  to secondary liquid waste treatment as the standards. There is a private sector ready and willing to  take  on IRM and provide benefit back to  our communities, let’s continue to encourage these solutions while ensuring no  risk, or increased cost to taxpayers. Some
IRM methods are proving to reduce costs to taxpayers; we need to  encourage these strategies.

Three years ago climate change was still  being significantly challenged, the economy was facing a downturn, and social  issues such as homelessness were being measured for better understanding.

The world is facing significant challenges. 2010 was named the year of natural  disaster, homelessness is significant no matter where you are in the world, and  countries, not banks are now going bankrupt. We cannot continue to do things the same old  way at any level of government. Creative thinking will be required, and  we all must recognize there will be some uncomfortable changes required.

Opportunities are there as well, big  opportunities for our municipality. We want to ensure that present and  future children of Esquimalt can enjoy the benefits that the past 100 years generations  of Esquimalt families have had.

Esquimalt, your new council will work  hard to ensure our municipality is the preferred place for families, seniors, students,
to live, work and play.

Respectfully submitted by,

Mayor Barbara Desjardins