Owen Sound’s mayor is looking back on 2021 as a year the city made strides in improving its organizational strength.
Ian Boddy says a refreshed strategic plan, the addition of a new manager of strategic initiatives position and the completion of employee satisfaction and the first ever citizen satisfaction surveys are among the highlights achieved this year in this regard.
“It’s putting in place the building blocks for having a really good, tight organization that helps us move forward with policies,” Boddy says. “That’s probably the biggest thing looking back that we achieved.”
Boddy also looks back fondly on the naming of the Giche-name-wiikwedong Bridge (10th Street Bridge) as a highlight of 2021. Construction was completed on the bridge near the end of 2020, then the city held a naming ceremony to dedicate the bridge in June 2021 on the 25th anniversary of National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada.
The sale of the Billy Bishop Regional Airport is another point of progress Boddy the city was able to achieve this past year. Owen Sound officially sold the airport earlier this month to Clayton Smith for $1.5-million.
“Being able to sell to someone who runs an airport, knows what they’re doing and can make smart business decisions is great for everybody,” Owen Sound’s mayor says.
Looking ahead to next year, Boddy says the city currently does not have an overall economic development strategy to attract certain industry and jobs. Work on that front will be a priority, the mayor says.
“That has been a frustration for a couple of years and I think we’ll move forward with that in the next year given that we’ve moved forward with the strategic plan update,” Boddy adds.