By CHAT News Today

Mayor Clugston reflects on 2017

Dec 29, 2017 | 3:26 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — With 2017 almost in the books, Mayor Ted Clugston is looking back on what he considers a successful year.

Clugston says there are several accomplishments council can be proud of. He listed the construction for the new seniors centre at the site of the former Veiner Centre as one highlight.

“That was basically four years in the making for the past council,” he said earlier this month.

The mayor also said the city’s newest electric generation plant in the Box Springs going online was another major accomplishment for council, one he says will benefit for many years.

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“I cannot begin to tell you how many people are eyeing up that plant right now,” he said. “That will prove to be one of the best investments, if not the best investment the last council made.”

Clugston has said the next term will be quiet in terms of city projects, noting most of the major infrastrucutre projects have been completed. He says the new Fire Station on Parkview Drive and the last of the city’s flood protection berms will be completed in 2018.

He added during the election, economic development was the main priority from residents he spoke with, and he feels city council has helped create a positive climate to help business grow in the city.

“I believe the last couple of councils has created the municipal infrastructure, and as I’ve kept saying, we’re pretty much done,” he said. “Fire halls, swimming pools, event centres, leisure centres, all of those things. That’s over, and now it’s time for the private sector to step in.

“You’re seeing it on the retail side right now, but what you unfortunately haven’t heard yet is on the industrial side, and it will make the retail side look like peanuts.”

Clugston says announcements of major industrial projects in the city likely won’t be made public until later in the year.

City Council will meet for the first time in 2018 on January 8. The State of the City Address, where the city’s strategic priorities for the term will be revealed, takes place January 30.