Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A New Beginning for Hornepayne

Congratulations to Willy, Heather, Paul, Laureen, and our new Mayor, Morley! I look forward to your future contributions to our Town.

I'd like to thank all of you who voted for me, your support means the world. To think, in the beginning I was fearful nobody would believe in me! Hornepayne, you're the best!

To all my fellow "runners", you are still leaders in this community! We stepped forward fueled with passion for this Town. We fell asleep many nights thinking of the ways we could contribute and make improvements; really, what's changed? We're still here and we still love Hornepayne. We still have those great ideas; we can still contribute. We may not have won a seat in the Council Chambers, but we are still needed in the building process. Our leaders can not re-build Hornepayne on their own. Don't give up on your dreams for our future; why not put your ideas forward for consideration?

To the Future Mayor and Council: if you come to a time in the next 4 years where you need some leaders, remember all those who ran along side of you in the race. I don't think you'll find any who are more courageous!

Well Hornepayne, Cheers! Here's to a new Beginning for all of us. ☺

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A Good Leader Needs to have Balls

Nooooo! I don't mean all good leaders are men! What I mean is: a good leader needs to have Courage. ☺

I think everyone is familiar with the Egypt story. The Jews were slaves and God sent Moses in to free His People and lead them out of captivity. Moses fought hard for the People and eventually won. The first thing they did was sing a song of celebration. But, it wasn't long before they encountered the burden of their victory. Things had to be done differently than they were in the past; they grumbled and desired to go back to what they were familiar with.

It's easy to go back to what we know because we already know what to expect, and we already know how to do "it". Moving forward into something new is not so secure; we don't know what the future holds and we don't know if we will be able to cope with the new ways of doing things. In the above story, Moses kept the people moving forward even when they were scared. He kept them encouraged by trying to keep them focused on where they were going. Even though they believed going back was the easier option, Moses knew it was not a healthy option for them. Imagine if Moses would have agreed with them? Imagine if he was unable to keep his own focus on the goal ahead? A Good leader needs to be able to keep her (or his ☺) eye on the prize, even when everyone else can't.

It seems Hornepayne has gone backwards instead of forwards. We have been lead back to what was known, instead of moving into something new. How many of you feel like singing a song of celebration? This is something we need to change.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: we need vision. We also need leaders who will lead our Community into achieving that vision. Change is not easy; tough seasons are to be expected. We need leaders who can encourage themselves and keep the Community encouraged when we encounter the rough spots.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."
-- Ambrose Redmoon

I would appreciate your consideration at the polls on October 25th. I'd love the chance to lead you into a song of Celebration.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

What Now?

One of my desires is to see Hornepayne's economy improve; one of the simplest ways to do that is to draw visitors to our town.
We have many organizations who depend on fund-raising for financial support. Why not brainstorm and come up with events that will draw out-of-town visitors to partake in your event? Their presence will not only support the organization, but also the businesses in town.
We can host all kinds of events; with the exception of facility improvements, we're only limited by our creativity.

Here are things I think need to be fixed immediately:
*We need a place for our visitors to stay. We need a motel.
*The Arena and the Legion are really the only facilities we have left. Because the Arena is owned by the Township, I will focus on it in this article.
Many events could be held at the arena, but the facility is not equipped to host big events. There is not a place for our guests to eat, drink, get warm, or gather. I think the Township needs to find money to fix the upper room, or/and add on to the building.
The canteen is not equipped to feed large crowds, so improvements are needed there also. I would like to see our canteen occupied by a business person. If we held regular events, a business could be sustained by serving food alone; leaving the vending machines available for Minor Hockey's fund-raising needs.
Curling could draw many visitors, but they need their club room back. We need to find or build a permanent home for our Weight Room.

Two things have to happen in this next bit of time:
1. We need to audit our Town's businesses and services and position everything so that it can all function together. The dust (so to speak), has not yet settled from the closure of the mall, and so we need to make sure everything falls into the perfect place.
2. We need to come up with goals for the future; things to work towards.

Your New leaders will be the ones to get the ball rolling. If I'm voted in, my first step would be meet with the businesses and organizations to see what they personally need to help improve their service to Hornepayne. I would also like to hear any ideas they have for the future. I would also create an easy way for the rest of the Town's people to communicate their ideas. Once all the info was collected, then the Town Leaders could assess their resources and support the needs. The information would also enable them to come up with a vision, and a plan to lead the Town into it's future.

I'm excited to start moving forward!