Caring for Cranbrook

With the end of the year approaching, Wayne Stetski, mayor of Cranbrook, B.C., talked to Kootenay Business about the priorities before city council for 2014, and gave us some information and insights into his background and his motivations.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Churchill, Manitoba, and my dad’s work with the federal government took us to Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Ontario during my school years.

Where did you receive your post-secondary education?

I got my bachelor of science and a teaching certificate at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. I went right from university to being the assistant chief of interpretation for Manitoba Parks. Later, I began a masters program in natural resource management at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, but only completed half of it before moving to Cranbrook.

What brought you to Cranbrook?

In 1990 I bid on the position of district manager responsible for provincial parks in the Kootenays. We came here thinking we’d be here maybe five years, but never found a reason to leave.

What was your first paid job?

Picking rocks for farmers, and baling hay, for $1/hour.

What kind of challenge brings out the best in you?

My best days are when someone comes into the office and I’m able to help them.

If your city were a person, what would you say is its dominant characteristic?

Cranbrook is a generous and caring community. What this community has accomplished through volunteerism and financial donations is amazing.

What do you especially love about this community?

Its generosity and its caring.

Before you became mayor, where might we find you on a Saturday night?

Plays, concerts, hockey games, out camping.

And now, where might you be on a Saturday night?

Same activities, only more often. I attend over 100 events each year; I enjoy being out in the community and I want to be accessible.

What would you like your legacy to be in your city?

I want to be remembered as a mayor who cared, and made Cranbrook a better place economically, culturally, socially and environmentally.

Can you tell me how you’ve begun to achieve this?

Using information from the Barriers to Business report, we’re writing a guide for starting a business in Cranbrook. We’ve been celebrating our growing cultural diversity.

We’re making the city more user-friendly for people with all levels of mobility, via sidewalk let-downs, more accessible walk-light buttons, longer pedestrian crosswalk signals and easier access to public buildings. With the environment in mind, we’ve hired an engineer, Jay Armstrong, to work on energy savings for corporate buildings. We’re working in partnership with several environmental groups on ensuring an environmentally healthy city.