CAMPAIGN OUTLINE FOR DAN CUNIN

This will be the Fifth week that I have provided details that outline my campaign. At this point, all of my ideas have been made public. I’ve included some new items and/or clarified some of the previously announced items. Again, my belief is that before you vote for me, you should know what I hope to accomplish and how I plan to accomplish those goals.

One of the key reasons why I am running again is you, the people, and the wonderful conversations I’ve had with you. It is not an exaggeration to say that most of the ideas listed below have come from those discussions. It’s been well over a decade that we’ve talked and I plan to continue these discussions once I’m elected!

Some general points that I hope the reader will consider before voting for me are:

• I am committed to solutions focused conversations. Everyone should feel heard and everyone should have the opportunity to discuss an idea, but at the end of those discussions, a set of actions need to be voted for and a timeline established to deliver results.

  
  

• Change can be scary, especially when we consider changing some ‘traditional’ ways of doing things. However, I am not going to be seeking change just for change’ sake. I want to build on the best of what we have and change what is clearly not working.

  
  

"Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" - John Wooden

• I believe in grass roots democracy, civic engagement and public participation. I have always believed that if you want to talk to the experts you talk to the people doing the work, the frontline workers.

• In weeks 1-4 I have outlined a number of different reasons why you should vote for me. In week one I mentioned gave you my commitment to showing you the details I felt you needed before voting for me – I am hoping that I have fulfilled this promise.

  
  

In weeks two and three I told the reader that my history in working in large policy driven agencies has given me the insights into how policy lead to negative and positive changes. But policy can be useless words unless it is followed and enforced. I will be adept at the review and implementation of plans focused on the need to operationalize policy. I will never forget that behind every policy there are people who are affected.

Last week (week 4) I drew the readers attention to the fact that I have been actively following and/or commenting politics in Cochrane, in and out of council chambers, for well over a decade now. I now have a depth knowledge of council decisions and their effects on Cochrane that few can match. This knowledge has allowed me to research my ideas to a greater extent than other candidates can likely say, gives me insights into the complexities of some issues, will allow me to anticipate and plan for challenges and will allow me to be able to get work faster than other candidates.

I have committed to 3 main areas of focus. I have clear, realistic plans to achieve my goals. Those 3 areas of focus include are:

• One, restoring budget fundamentals to save Cochrane taxpayers money.

• Two, I will restore transparency and accountability in council chambers.

• Three, I will address the other issues affecting Cochrane like the Environment, Emergency services, Seniors, Traffic, Public safety, Sustainable and manageable growth etc. I also have some other ideas that you may find interesting.

IDEAS - Restoring budget fundamentals to save Cochrane taxpayer money:

The Town of Cochrane (ToC) has very few options in order to raise taxes. In the coming weeks I will outline a multi level strategy to support businesses in Cochrane and to grow our taxation base. That basic strategy, growing our tax base, will give council the realistic option of lowering your property taxes while sustaining our current level of services. Increased council oversight of projects will also be a focus of mine.

• I would like to explore the creation of an industrial park within the Town of Cochrane (ToC) boundaries. I feel this idea has the capacity to give Cochrane an opportunity to transform itself in a very literal way.

  
  

• I provide MUCH MORE information on my website and my elections facebook pages!

• There has been a lot of talk about supporting our local businesses but I see very little leadership in this area. I think there is more the town can do. I want to create a ‘Cochrane First’ Operations policy that supports locally owned and operated businesses in Cochrane.

• I will support locally owned and operated businesses using the town website.

• I have reviewed our budgets for over a decade now and have written about my concerns in the paper multiple times. I believe there are changes that can take place to increase oversight and transparency. Simple contractual wording safeguards for example would ensure that the Cochrane taxpayer is safeguarded from project cost over runs.

• Possible direct support options could be to ensure that the present monopoly on lease space does not continue. This will include a percentage limitation of ownership for future commerce spaces for any single buyer/leasing agent or equivalent. Another idea could be rent controls but I will have to examine this further before I commit to this idea.

• I will seek to examine the current ‘job incubator’ program. While I believe in the concept of this plan and would consider expanding this program, I am not convinced that it is effective in its current format.

• We need clear answers to where we sit financially and, unless I’m convinced otherwise, I will be requesting an independent 3rd party audit of all the town’s finances. I will use that audit not only to give us a clear picture of Cochrane financial health but to uncover areas of duplication, efficiencies and possibly to recover funds.

• I will seek to create a business task force to reach out to local businesses to review the business environment in Cochrane with the focus of removing barriers to business.

• I will seek to form a ‘Cochrane first’ operational strategy. This would force the town to have our services sourced locally, within reason.

• I will seek to put into policy the automatic exclusion of any contract that include a non-disclosure clause going forward.

• I will seek to create a policy that ensures financial contracts ensure Cochrane taxpayers are protected from financial loss. Contracts are to be worded to ensure cost over runs on projects are to be incurred by company completing the contract. There are tools available for contractors already so there should be no excuse why this cannot happen i.e. Contract wording, contractor insurance and/or proper capitalization to name a few.

• The fact is that some ideas require partnerships between different communities and/or different levels of government. I will seek to have our Provincial and Federal MLAs – currently Mr. Peter Gunthrie and/or Blake Richards, to attend council chambers on a semi annual basis in none election years.

• I want to save us money and have a numbered ballot count to avoid a costly by-election.

IDEAS POSTED - restoring transparency and accountability in council chambers:

• Restoring transparency, accountability, consultation and return to basic principles of good governance

• I will ensure a process is put in place to avoid the abuse of ‘in-camera’ sessions. This will include the formation of a policy that clearly outlines when an ‘in-camera’ session is mandatory and to have the notes reflect who called for an ‘in-camera’ session, the rationale given by that person and who voted for or against the motion calling for an ‘in-camera’ session.

• Nobody enjoys paying taxes but a lack of transparency leads to distrust and resentment. I will seek to introduce an element of choice into your taxes. Why not include line items in your property assessment that gives you the choice on where your tax dollars are spent? Items such as fund raising, additional funding for community partners like the Cochrane Humane society, future fund raising for sports facilities, school fees etc. seem like possible choices. Functional details would still need to be determined by council and administration.

• I have looked at the publicly available budget information in details for over a decade now and I have often found the lack of detail left me with more questions than answers.

I will seek to have all budgetary information be made available to the public at least 1-month prior to the first council deliberations. I will seek to have a policy put in place that would demand that all council questions have been answered before the approval of a budget can be made. I will also seek to have it mandatory that the public be allowed to attend and ask questions directly to council and administration at every stage of deliberations and/or prior to any final approval of the budget.

• I will seek to reformat the current council notes to ensure that basic elements are easily apparent for anyone who may review them. Items such as who made what motion and who voted for what should be mandatory.

• Agenda’s, including meeting agenda’s, should be set by council, not administration. I will seek to have council be responsible for the approval of meeting agenda items a week prior to the actual meeting AND that this approved meeting agenda (other than last minute additions) will be made available to the public.

• We are already seeing our elected officials using the Cochrane Taxpayer dollars for assist their re-election campaigns. If I’m elected, I will introduce a motion prohibiting all council members (including the mayor) from making any public comment/having their picture published during an election year except for emergency situations - from Sept 1 to Oct 20 for municipal elections.

• I will seek to create an unstructured ‘open mike’ element added to council meetings for each line item. I will also seek to have more citizen participation in council activities/projects by making it a regular practice to request participation in town projects.

• I will continue leading by example when it comes to transparency and accountability. I will also ensure there is safety for others with the formation of a whistleblower policy.

• I will seek to pass a bylaw that ensures that questions asked by council to administration are answered or result in having that agenda item postponed until those questions are answered.

• I will seek to have to pass a bylaw making motions and votes public on a semi-annual basis.

• I will seek to create a ‘hire a summer student’ program to conduct a door-to-door survey seeking responses by Cochrane taxpayers. This will include reformatting survey questions to be open ended vs. carefully scripted.

• I would like to create a process to ensure that there is an automatic public consultation for any expenditures of over 1 million dollars and to create an automatic reporting system for those projects on a semi-annual basis or more.

• I will seek to ensure that NO further contracts will be accepted if they contain a none disclosure clause/agreement.

• I will seek to ensure a bylaw is in place that there will a maximum of 6-months given to administration to complete a task set by council from the date that direction to administration is given. Operational realities may force exceptions to this bylaw.

IDEAS POSTED - The Environment:

• I’ve already announced my focus on the environment. I was recently challenged on this public but broad statement when someone said, ‘It is nice to say you want to protect the environment but how are you going to do that’. Here is one way, I will complete Do a review of existing environmental wetlands/Riparian lands inventory with goal of creating a natural assets inventory for all of Cochrane. I want to update and collate existing information to plug gaps into the existing information to make a planning document to help guild Cochrane’s future development.

• As of August 24th I just posted an event I attended that was hosted by the AB Native Plant Rescue group (AB NPR group). This group works with developers throughout AB to rescue native plants from being lost as houses are built. It is my intention to introduce steps within the current planning process to give automatic access to these developments to groups like the AB NPR group.

• If you’re like me, I dread the environmental waste and eyesore that happens every election because of election signs. I will seek to limit official campaign signage to only certain areas - one per candidate placed in alphabetical order and in limited locations

• I am currently working with a major developer to pioneer environmental building practices to potentially divert million of tons of waste per year into value added construction materials. I will attempt to have council contact builders to see if there can be a partnership test building built.

• Mr. Nagel has now committed to allocating portions of future development approvals to urban reserve. With this tool in mind - I want to work with our community partners to ensure nature space exists between our surrounding communities through parks/wildlife corridors.

• I would like to incentivize environmental initiatives during developments using off site levies. The basic premise is simple, set out a list of criteria (one such list is the LEED standards) and charge developers lower off site levi rates for building to those standards/including projects within their developments. This offsets some of the costs that might occur for the developer and in return the homeowner gets a better product and Cochrane can then start having developers voluntarily increase their environmental stewardship practices.

• I will restart the collection of meat tray. The collection was stopped during the Covid pandemic but has never restarted despite health restrictions having been lifted. I will be seeking to find an alternative use for the blocks that are produced, ideally, one with a monetary value.

• How often do you see a person buy a house with a promise of a view/wetland/greenspace and after they have bought the property suddenly those promises vanish. How often do we see interconnectivity lost between different phases of construction. I would seek to ensure that council has greater control over the details of the different phases of construction such as maximum heights of buildings as a mandatory piece of planning. I would also want to work out a system that automatically given the residents and/or registered community associations immediately affected by the next stage of a development/changes within the development a chance to review those changes and, ideally, have an ability to have some level of control.

IDEAS POSTED - Emergency services:

• If I’m elected, I will take measures to increase public safety. I would seek to first find out what is needed to increase our emergency service coverage which I already know is well below Cochrane’s current population and create a plan to have the coverage levels increased to the appropriate level within the next 5-years.

• I will seek to help create 24/7 emergency health care for Cochrane’s Urgent care center. I want to deal with facts, not hype or conjecture so getting those ‘facts’ will be my first order of business. I am also curious to see if there can be a cost sharing arrangement that can be worked out between Cochrane and the provincial government.

IDEAS POSTED – Seniors:

• I hope to explore the expansion of ‘low-cost’ option heath care options for seniors. Hopefully in time those ‘low cost’ options could become a ‘no cost’ options and expand to other heath needs as well. The idea would be to focus on prevention in order to limit emergency care. The main idea would be to form a partnership with some educational centers like SAIT or UofC to run some of their practicums for health care programs here in Cochrane. Please see my website for more information.

• I will not accept the continued planning for seniors that appear to be an after thought that is secondary to other needs. I will seek to facilitate ‘Cochrane made’ solutions to pro-actively present to the provincial government. Cochrane needs to take control over the plans vs. waiting for provincial handouts that continue to leave our seniors waiting for services.

IDEAS POSTED - Traffic:

• Some may think that all of Cochrane’s traffic problems are over but that is simply not true. I will never support a ‘one way in – one way out’ development and will be seeking to mitigate the traffic chokepoints that have already been created. I am also wanting to reverse the current councils focus on 4 ways stops in favor of traffic circles. By any measurement, traffic circles are more efficient.

IDEAS POSTED - Public safety:

• There continues to be car thefts and break ins. People have a right to feel safe in their homes! The feeling of safety is one of the things that makes Cochrane the community we love! I want to explore increased monitoring and emergency response for Cochrane.

• Currently I feel it is just a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or killed in the Heritage Hills area. I want to create an underpass under the highway.

IDEAS POSTED - Sustainable and manageable growth:

• I would want to place a quota on yearly building starts. This will likely not be possible with currently approved developments due to contractual reasons.

• One of the Mayoral Candidates has announced his goal of Managing grown. He focused on Managing growth and gives 3 plans to do this, one setting an annual population growth target of 2-3%, two, allocating portions of future development approvals to urban reserves and three, reducing density tartes to six to eighth units per acre. He also talks about protecting Green Spaces and Reshaping Civic Leadership.

• I couldn’t agree more these priorities! My only comment or point of concern would be some of the stated plans for managing growth. I’m in 100% agreement of setting an annual growth rate but how?! How will he do this when he was part of the approval process for budgets whose spending plans are now solely dependent on a higher rate of growth? I am also concerned about a blanket statement that curbs all density targets – density targets do have a place but not necessarily in ever place.

IDEAS POSTED - Other ideas and/or commitments:

• I want to institute a ‘Cochrane first’ program registration policy. This policy would allow Cochrane residents the first opportunity to register in SLS programs.

• I believe that the town can help remove the reasons people use to not vote to encourage voter participation. One idea could be to have the town provide free transportation via Colt on election day for seniors and/or people with disabilities.

• The Cochrane Ranchhouse has the capability of hosting large event. I believe strongly that the Town has a moral obligation to put efforts into events like hosting a nonpartisan election forum.

• A couple of weeks ago weekend Michelle stated her concern about the Cochrane Ranchehouse forcing non-profits to pay rent for fundraising. If I am elected, I will seek to have all community fund raiser activities in the Ranchehouse to be free. Some consideration will have to be given to issues such as additional staffing/cleaning costs but at most these would be limited to cost recovery based on actual operational expenses. There would be size and scheduling limitations.

• One event that I want to explore further for the Ranchehouse would be to host a qualifier tournament for the esports world cup.

• I am a big believer in the town supporting community led efforts and physical activity. I would like to explore the creation of a large-scale downhill biking course.

• Cochrane has world class volunteers. We are blessed to have some key volunteer groups that regularly work worders for our community. I would seek to approach these groups to offer town expertise to them. This would be a town led initiative but agency-controlled effort. We provide funding for some of our community partners. I would like to support these groups with predictable and stable funding.

• I would like to see greater assistance being given to our amazing community organizations. I will seek to find a sustainable, empirically based funding model to allow multiyear funding that is predictable and stable.

• I will seek to offer town staff expertise being offered to our different community organizations. The services would be voluntary, come without expectations and be agency controlled.

• I would seek to ensure Cochrane remains a distinct community. If one side of the street is Calgary and the other side is Cochrane then we cease to become a community but become a subdivision of Calgary. Ideas such as the creation of parks and/or wild life corridors would benefits all the surrounding communities and keep Cochrane as a distinct community. Those efforts need to start immediately!

• I would like to explore a regular ‘Friday nights on Main Street’ event for local businesses to have patio’s, live entertainment, food trucks, farmers markets. I hope to create the space to allow Main Street businesses to demonstrate their ability to provide a different shopping experience.

• I have talked to structural engineers who have assured me that it would be possible to put the railroad that runs on top of the ground to make it run under the ground. I have seen a lot of people talk about how this is not possible and/or it will be too expensive but no one has actually presented facts. I want to see what those facts are. It is not my intention for this to become a paid ‘study’ but something that the community/Cochrane staff could do.

DEFINITIVE STATEMENTS:

• I cannot see any possible amendments that a developer could make to have me vote in favor for any development for the Jones estates.

• I will not support a batch plant addition to the existing gravel pit.

• I will not support a second attempt by council to give control over SLS center to YMCA or any other outside agency. The last attempt by certain members of this council for this was a disaster and I will not repeat that mistake!

• I foresee a ward system as a pragmatic reality as a consequence for continued growth. I do not want this to become political for personal political gain like some issues in Cochrane have been. You plan, you set targets, and when those targets are met you put it to the public for a referendum but not before. That planning should start now.

• My decisions will be for the betterment of Cochrane as a whole. Currently it appears that the French School building expansion would fit under this category.

I have written these ideas in ‘bullet point’ format for the most part. This is meant to help decrease the amount of reading in an already densely worded document. More details on each of those commitments has already been given in previous weeks.

I would encourage the reader to learn more about these ideas at my website DanCuninForTownCouncil.com. or Facebook I hope to talk to you soon.

Dan Cunin