Teunis Westbroek says he is honoured to serve the Town of Qualicum Beach as mayor again.
He says he is excited to work with council and staff on tackling the challenges they face as a community.
He said: “Respecting that council will be undertaking strategic planning and budget early in 2023 to collectively determine priorities” his personal value set would see advancement in:
• Restoring community trust in our council by enhancing transparency and accountability and weighing public input in decision making.
• Working collaboratively with council, staff and our residents to ensure that Qualicum Beach can meet future community needs while protecting that which we hold dear.
• Balancing the need for innovation with carefully managing change in order to ensure that we preserve the very qualities that attracted us to Qualicum Beach in the first place. Qualicum Beach is the crown jewel of Vancouver Island, but it is changing.
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• Managing future growth to enhance our town, while reflecting our values and the good community planning which evolved from a rich history that has served us well, without departures from our Official Community Plan.
• Collaborating with the provincial government, Island Health and our MLA to recruit physicians and nurse practitioners and establishing a community-owned primary healthcare centre.
• Preparing for the impacts of climate change by implementing low-impact transportation options.
• Increasing our focus on, and utilizing, technologies to address climate change impacts, particularly in housing development practices and “green” building standards.
• Developing affordable and suitable housing on town-owned land.
• Enhancing our community’s “village by the sea” charm with its walkability, welcoming commercial centre and abundance of natural assets.
• Promoting year-round recreational opportunities with a major upgrade of our skate park and pickle ball courts, extending the placement of benches and bike racks, and other placemaking initiatives.
• Resolving the street light issues and improving accessibility.
• Managing our town’ s finances in a responsible and sustainable fashion, while ensuring fiscally prudent investment in our infrastructure to safeguard the efficient provision of services and management of our engineered and natural assets.
• Building on our community legacy of volunteerism.
• Continuing to work with our First Nation neighbours and friends in a respectful and collaborative manner.
— NEWS Staff, submitted