Well I have not been a fan of how our city has been run for a while now but I haven’t been super vocal because I haven’t been willing to do anything about it. I have never considered running for office, even though our city councilor roles are P/T and theoretically only take a day a week out of your life (and probably a couple evenings). I have never even attended a weekly city council meeting.

Heck, I have only just started watching the 4 hour meetings online (seen three so far) but even that 4 hour meeting usually takes me three days to get through.

I have always been a huge fan of public service and I believe that every person should serve in some form. I like countries like Finland that require service in the military or public office. If you missed service to the military then maybe later in life, when you are theoretically older and wiser, you serve a term as a councilor or on some municipal committee or as an MLA in the legislature or something.

I will put this out there right now, I do not believe that you should be running for office at 19 years old. I simply don’t believe that you have enough world experiences to give you the wisdom or experience to do the job properly. There are exceptions to that rule for sure and I will bet that there are more unqualified 40-somethings than under-qualified 20-somethings so at the end of the day, I just want to respect a person for serving their community.

I have been a big proponent of volunteerism and have given immensely of myself and promoted it strongly with my children. Even though public roles are paid, I would consider it an honor and privilege to serve. We have recently found out that our mayor, Nolan Crouse, is not running for re-election again. I liked the man and if nothing else, I will always remember him as the man that finally built our rec center. The two previous guys seemed to want to talk about it to death and have the public vote on every last detail and Nolan stepped in and got shit done.

St. Albert Mayor, Nolan Crouse (2007-2017)

Kudos and thank you to him for that.

I probably just gave credit to him for something that didn’t have a whole lot to do with him but a decade ago I wasn’t nearly so interested in politics and my memory might be a little vaguer than it should be.

I can tell you that this man was immensely qualified for what he did for our city of 70,000 residents. I can’t think of a better mayor that this city has seen… at least in my adult lifetime.

What Some Are Saying Online…

What can be really said about the announcement by Nolan Crouse that he will not be seeking re-election? Lots, actually.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Nolan for many years. Long before his foray into local politics and long before I had any interest in politics. Nolan and I didn’t always see eye-to-eye with respect to policy. Lord knows we didn’t see eye-to-eye on some policy!…

…Whether you agree with the direction Nolan took this city or not, a man who dedicated over a decade of his life to public serves deserves our respect. Sure the personal attacks will continue – largely because I believe people have a hard time adequately arguing policy so they default to the easier yet less effective ad hominem. Discussing policy is certainly more nuanced and more effective, but where is the drama in debating debt financing or land use bylaw provisions?

It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard pounding on the keys frantically using a pseudonym attacking the person you think Nolan is. You know who he is? A dedicated and passionate public servant – that’s who. You know what’s not easy? Public service and committing over a decade to it.

It is going to be difficult to find a new mayor who has the same passion and dedication that Nolan brought to the office.

To most of you, he is the mayor – I, however; am fortunate enough to be able to call him a friend.

Good luck with all your future endeavors. I hope our paths continue to cross.

~ Dana Popadynetz

There are a ton of things being said about our mayor online but I have to say that I agree with everything Dana said… almost. i am not sure that I can totally say that anyone who serves deserves our respect. There are plenty of people serving the public for all the wrong reasons. Currently I think Nolan Crouse is more prepared to be Prime Minister than the guy who is Prime Minister, but that is another post.

Before this post ends, I would like to add a note to Nolan’s plate before he leaves our public service… besides the thank you that everyone else is leaving him…

…a little complaint about how he performed his job that he probably hasn’t heard before…

I never felt safe parking in his spot

I have been dropping books off at the library night deposit at 5 or 6 in the morning and seen Nolan’s red little SUV sitting in his parking stall so often that I never parked in his stall no matter how early I got there for fear of having him show up while I was shoving books into that slot… it is an extra 10 feet to the dedicated library drop-off stall and on occasion I would see another car there and steal the city managers stall… but I never dared to park in Nolan’s.

There is a part of me that hopes that the next mayor doesn’t have half the work ethic and I can get a little less exercise every week.