Meet Cranbrook’s mayor, Lee Pratt

Cranbrook’s new mayor, Lee Pratt, is ready and eager to learn the protocols of day-to-day municipal government

Lee Pratt was elected mayor of Cranbrook, B.C., on November 15, 2014. — Photo courtesy Lee Pratt

The new mayor of Cranbrook, B.C., is Lee Pratt, a semi-retired businessman who continues to be involved in OK Tire, a business owned by his son. Pratt heads up a completely new city council—none of the six have been Cranbrook city councillors before; one, Wesly Graham, has had experience as a councillor in Creston.

Pratt said he’s looking forward to the challenge.

What prompted you to run for mayor?

I like Cranbrook. I’ve lived here all my life and I’d like to see more evidence of economic growth for the city. In my mind, we need to change the spending priorities, and I’d like to lead the change.

What’s your strength or character trait that will be most valuable to you as mayor?

My leadership qualities. I was 25 years in the automotive industrial supply business and had people working for me and was very successful. I was 18 years in the financial services sector, for CIBC Wood Gundy, building a business up from scratch to eventually having a staff of 15. I believe in teamwork. My dad drilled that into me at a young age, and I played team sports all my life, so it’s just how I operate.

What might be your biggest challenge in your first six months in office?

Learning the systems of the municipal government and how it operates. It’s definitely going to be a sharp learning curve. We each have our own style of approaching a project or achieving a goal, but we’re going to have to get familiar with the Municipal Act and comply with its requirements. Achieving some necessary changes in direction will be a challenge too.

Is there a goal that you're most looking forward to working on?

First thing is the new budget. After the new year we’ll be sitting down with all of the city department heads and hammering out our capital expenditure budget.

It may be too soon to know exactly how we’re going to achieve it, but our main goal is to keep the quality of life that we have in Cranbrook right now. Cranbrook is a great place to live, with a lot of good qualities. The last council did some good things, and we want to maintain those. Now, we want to grow the population and help get the economy back to growth and prosperity.

What do you do for recreation and relaxation?

I’m a huge hockey fan. I played for about 55 years, even as an old-timer, until I had an injury that stopped me. I started the old-timers hockey league—took it from four teams to 12 at one time. In the summer I camp with my family at our recreation property. We fish and golf and go berry-picking—we enjoy all the good things this area has to offer.