“Thanks to All Town Citizens Who Allowed Me To Represent You,” Shares Gary Becker

6 days ago

7 minutes read

“It’s been almost 8 years since a team of local businessman decided to run for municipal
government, with that journey coming to an end for some of them in the next few weeks, me
included. I’d like to thank everyone involved, especially the current head administration, namely
Audrey Hebert and Kim Vogel. Their steady hand guiding all the behind the scenes, day to day stuff,
is what makes this town work. They do not get near enough acknowledgement and thank you’s. I
from the bottom of my heart would like to say a big thanks to them and all other town workers for
keeping everything running in the fishbowl called Kindersley.

The journey started in 2016 when a group of local businessmen where getting fed up with the
direction the town was going. Taxes were going up annually, bureaucracies were being built, and in
general nothing was getting done efficiently. As every businessperson knows, if you don’t have an
economic plan, you really don’t have a plan. Unfortunately, this has seen to be lost on governments
in the last few decades, where they spend with reckless abandonment, using debt to fill in the gaps.
Don’t get me wrong, there is good debt and bad debt. Debt to build necessary infrastructure, that
makes the country more efficient and the standard of living higher for the majority living there is
good. Debt to build bureaucracy, inefficiencies, add unnecessary regulation and red tape is bad
debt.

Rod Perkins and I started selecting local business owners and community leaders if they would be
interested in running to change the direction of the town. Rod a respected CPA, who was partner
and running a premiere local accounting firm for 35 plus years was nearing retirement and
committed to run for mayor. Rod has mentored and guided many farms and businesses, mine
included, through the ups and downs that are part of the business cycle. He would make an
excellent mayor. Other’s that committed to run for council included Ken Francis, Randy Ervine, and
Dean Galbraith. On election day 2016, we, for some crazy reason all got voted in and the political
journey began.

The group of us, knowing business, but little about the intricacies of government, would quickly get
an education. We took a few one-day courses on governance for dummies 101 and were off to the
races. The towns system of governance when we took over was the Carver Model. Dr. John Carver,
developed a MODEL for governance that in a nutshell gave more power to the CEO of a company
and took away responsibility from the board of directors. His REASONING for this was so the board
could spend more time focusing on the bigger picture items and not get bogged down on the dayto-day activities involved with running a government/business. In my opinion this was another
model developed by some professor based on unproven theory as opposed to reality. Any
successful businessperson knows you need to have the pulse on the day-to-day workings of the
business/government. You hire a competent, trustworthy CEO, give them some rope, but still
always have your finger on the pulse and be prepared to step in and give mentorship/guidance
when needed. Our first order of business was to dissolve the Carver model of governance, giving
council more control.

The second order of business was to reduce the bloat that was occurring in town office. When we
arrived town office was full and in fact, they were looking to expand office space to house the
bureaucracy they were creating. The old politically incorrect adage “You need a few competent
Chiefs and a hell of a lot of Indians” in my opinion still holds true today. I had experienced the
middle management bloat firsthand in a oil company I worked for several decades ago at the
beginning of my career in oil and gas. I began working as an operator in a large field north of town. In
the beginning it was ran by approximately four competent managers overseeing about fifteen
operators in the field. As oil boomed more middle management was added. Several years later
when I quit to pursue a career on my own, the total management count was sixteen to an operator
count of fifteen in the field. Nothing had changed materially in the field’s well count wise since the
1950’s, so why the increase in middle management bloat? Unfortunately for this public company,
who was adapting this model throughout its entire business it ended very badly. Once the largest
conventional oil company in Western Canada and a stock market darling, it was forced to
restructure, basically wiping out the shareholders and remaining a shadow of what it once was.
Bloat had increased its cost structure and prevented it from running nibble and effective like it once
had. This same situation is unfortunately happening in all areas of government like health care and
education and the results are showing. Not many are happy with level of service we are being
provided with, it’s a similar pattern, something needs to change.

At the town we quickly reduced this bloat the first year. The savings in wages were approximately
$700,000 annually. I can proudly say more then 95 percent of the cuts were made to middle
management positions with almost none of the frontline workers being affected. There was always
pushback that when you cut, level of service would also be cut. This did not happen in my opinion
as managers were held accountable and gains were made in the productivity of workers. Moral also
seemed to improve.

When we entered council as elected officials, the relationship with many community service
groups and the local RM to our surprise was toxic to say the least. There were several active
lawsuits, and it was at a point talking was only being done through lawyers who were charging
hundreds of dollars an hour to communicate. Next order of business was to resolve these issues by
talking face to face. It’s amazing how one on one personal conversations can resolve disputes,
instead of hiring lawyers where both parties get their backs up. In time the lawsuits were dropped,
and the relationship with the RM of Kindersley was mended. The RM has been an excellent partner,
and all residents of the town should be thankful for the RM’s participation in many capital projects
as well as their ongoing contributions to sporting and community lifestyle events. Examples where
the RM went above and beyond, $1,000,000 to the aquatic center, $1,000,000 to the firehall,
hundreds of thousands to firefighting equipment and sharing operating costs, etc, etc. I sincerely
thank the RM for all they have did and hope the new council can maintain the relationship going
forward.

There were several projects in the hopper when we entered government and unfortunately none
where progressing in a timely and cost-effective manner. Hundreds of thousands had been spent
on studies that gave useless/unaffordable results. I will use the aquatic center as my example. The
town had been without a pool for several years when the older facility had been condemned and no
plan/little money was there to replace it. A third-party consulting company was paid handsomely to
come up with what the town needed. The results they came up with ranged widely from a $150
million dollar rec facility (totally unaffordable) to an outdoor pool for over $10 million (why would we
want anything less then the indoor pool we used to have). Council decided to take the ball in their
own hands and develop an internal focus group to build what we as the town needed. A year-round
pool that was affordable to run, had some extras like a hot tub and waterslide, and wouldn’t break
the bank on capital/operating spend and be a future burden to taxpayers. This wouldn’t be the
easiest task, as through our own research the cheapest indoor pool built at the time was in
Manitoba for a price tag of $12 million and was plagued with problems several years after running.
On the operating side, many pools weren’t built with improper site lines/dimensions, and several
communities realized after the fact operating costs were eating their lunch by the number of
lifeguards that were required on deck. The group travelled to many different communities who had
recently built pools, seeing firsthand what they did and learning what they’d do different. This is by
far the best way to solve problems, getting boots on the ground and learning, as opposed to relying
on the so-called expert CONSULTANTS. The focus group came up with a plan and put the facility
out for tender. More disappointment as tenders came in way higher then anticipated and all were
accompanied by the hundred-page legal document. We had to pivot again. We would build the
aquatic center unconventionally in such a way that is rarely done and relies on utmost trust and
communication between the owner and builder. A councillor referred a local builder he used
numerous times in his business dealings and was known as reputable for coming in on budget and
good quality. The pool builder who we kept getting the best third-party feedback on was based out
of Manitoba and built a good pool at a fair price. The two of them bid on the project together and
signed a combined contract (under 10 pages) to build Kindersley’s aquatic center for a total cost of
just under $7 million. Open lines of communication were continuous throughout the build, and
when the odd problem arose (they always do when building) they were dealt with swiftly to
eliminate delays and losses between both parties. Result, an indoor aquatic center, which the town
can be proud of, built for a fraction of the cost of the next closest bid.

Every other major capital project the town took part in, diligence was done to the same effect as we
did with the pool. When work came in at parity, preference was given when research determined
their history as reputable and honest. A few local contractors I would like to say thanks to for saving
the town big time money include Pro-Bilt Structures, TKC Trucking & Picker Service, Luk Plumbing,
Heating & Electrical Ltd. It was a pleasure working as a team to solve problems together and for the
greater good of the citizens of the town. There are many more contractors as well that deserve a pat
on the back, thanks to you as well.

The last topic I’d like to talk on is how when participants all work together for the common goal of
making the community a better place, very good things can happen. Council, administration, RM’s,
service groups, residents, business, local contractors, putting their best foot forward have
continued to make Kindersley a wonderful place to live and raise a family. In the last decade
multiple projects have been completed that have increased the standard of living for Kindersley
residents. These include an indoor pool, paving/extending the Motherwell walking trail, making a
beach area, adding/redoing multiple playgrounds, a splash park on mains street, etc. At the same
time this was accomplished, overall town outstanding debt came down from $ 9 million to around
$5 million. Effective tax rates over the 8-year period only increased 3 percent. A team effort was
responsible for all the progression.

To the incoming council, many more projects are on the books and need to be completed during
your tenure, good luck and keep the momentum going. Thanks to all town citizens who allowed me
to represent you, it was a pleasure and honour.

Sincerely Gary Becker