After years of dedicated service to the Town and community of Kindersley, Communication Manager Wayne Gibson will be taking his skills further afield—leaving behind a Wayne-shaped hole and a slew of well-wishers in the Town of Kindersley office and community.
In a recent interview, Gibson shared that a position as Communications Strategist for the City of Regina caught his eye, and as a person who enjoys a challenge, Gibson realized the opportunity was too good to pass up. “I feel that I still have it in me to learn, grow and experience new adventures; so while I will miss Kindersley, my coworkers and connections here, I am excited to move to this new position.”
Originally hailing from the Outlook area, Gibson came to Kindersley 16 years ago as a journalist with the Kindersley Clarion, a job he says first interested him in the happenings of the community. “During that time I was able to familiarize myself with what was available, who the people were, and gained a strong sense of community.”
As Gibson became more and more involved in the community, he pulled his skills in communication to a new level by taking on the newly created position of Culture and Youth Coordinator with the Town of Kindersley. While gathering youth involvement and assisting the arts and culture committee, Gibson was able to use the position in order to advocate and become a voice for the side of Kindersley that wasn’t always heard.
From there, it was a natural switch from Culture and Youth Coordinator to becoming the Town of Kindersley’s Communications Manager—a position that brought new challenges as Gibson essentially decoded the inner workings of the Town Office and Council and presented them to the people within the community.
As Gibson explored the ways to create the link between the Town and the people of Kindersley, he became the webmaster of the existing town of Kindersley website, Kindersley.ca, forged social media connections through Facebook and Twitter, and spearheaded the Town Council TV—a way for folks in the area to watch both live and archived Town Council Sessions.
“It is important for tax payers, members of the community, to know and understand where their money is going and also to see how the dedicated work of the Town is important to this community.” Gibson said that he found benefits in both writing news articles for the website and broadcasting the Town Council TV. In writing articles, the factual snips gave folks an encapsulated nugget of information to take away. In the Town Council TV, folks were able to view and interpret themselves the happenings of the Town without having to go through the medium of a third-person point of view.
Gibson said that this work was both challenging and rewarding. “The most satisfying thing that I associate with my position is that I was able to contribute to something larger than myself. I am proud to remember that I was, in some way, helping my community to better itself and serve the people within that community.”
Gibson’s last day in his position was August 15, and he left the Town Office with a slew of well-wishes. Indeed he will be missed, but the community congratulates Wayne on his new position and will be proud to say that they were one of the places that prepared him for this next adventure.
