I am so proud as your Mayor that our City Council, back in January, supported hosting the 58th annual North Central Local Government Association’s Annual General Meeting in Quesnel from May 1 – 3. This was not only a fabulous opportunity to showcase our community but a tremendous economic generator for our local business community! We hosted a total of 260 delegates, 19 partners and 45 involved in the trade shows for a grand total of 324 guests for three days! Using fairly conservative estimates, the convention may have brought in approximately $275,000 to the City of Quesnel.
Our group of volunteers, headed by Quesnel Community and Economic Development Corporation’s Charlene Lawrence, assisted by three staff members from the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) and numerous City staff made this event seamless and boasted as one of the best conventions ever! The convention saw the highest level of sponsorship in the history of the association! Thank you to everyone who worked to make this event what it was, spectacular! Councillors Laurey-Anne Roodenburg and Scott Elliott were our council co-chairs and they did a stellar job. My sincere thanks goes out to the entire community for being such wonderful hosts!
The agenda for the conference included 28 resolutions and workshops that addressed rising issues to local government. The issues of infrastructure, finances, conflicts of interest, transportation, men’s health, community forests, climate (achievements and priorities) and wildfire management planning were just some of the issues included in the agenda.
We had the extreme honour of hosting former Member of Parliament and keynote speaker Deb Grey and Federation of Canadian Municipalities President Karen Leibovici.
Our local accessibility leaders Alison Duddy and Lynn Turner were honoured with a Measuring Up The North (MUTN) Award of Excellence for their initiative of access parking! These MUTN Awards of Excellence recognize local governments, businesses, groups or individuals who have shown innovation and ingenuity in their quest to build more livable, age-friendly, disability-friendly universally designed inclusive communities for all residents and visitors in the NCLGA region.
I often speak of partnerships and their value to our community. Our Northern Directors and the Cariboo Regional District were also among our many sponsors.
Our retiring NCLGA Executive Director Maxine Koppe and long-time Master of Ceremonies Kevin Brown were both recognized with a well-deserved Lifetime Membership along with ast president Mitch Campsall. Well deserved!
With the success of this conference, we look forward to hosting more like events!
Stay tuned for more updates from City Council on the ourQuesnel strategies and sustainability plans.
If you have a question for Mayor Mary Sjostrom, please e-mail it to us at newsroom@quesnelobserver.com and we’ll forward it to the Mayor so she can answer it in an upcoming column.
