Benty hard at work

Golden`s mayor, Christina Benty, has a positive outlook for her new term

Christina Benty, mayor of Golden. — Photo courtesy Christina Benty

Christina Benty, mayor of Golden, has a positive outlook for 2012. This will be her second term as mayor.

"I served two terms on council and decided to go back to school to study local government management," said Benty. "I ended up running in a byelection for mayor in 2009 and won by acclamation in 2011."

Her past with the council has a long list of accomplishments.

"We have revitalized the civic centre through numerous grants to build a beautiful performing arts and culture centre for the community," said Benty. "We have just celebrated our grand reopening last week."

Benty said among other achievements, the Town of Golden has participated in the asset management program, implemented curbside recycling, built a community square that will host community events, created the community bike program, upgraded operational bylaws and completed infrastructure upgrades. As well, it established a select housing committee and conducted a housing needs assessment.

Looking ahead

Benty said she would like to continue to build the mechanisms that support economic development, such as broadband infrastructure and marketing, and broadband access to include Wi-Fi hot spots in key areas.

"We are currently contracting an expert community broadband consulting service to identify the means to fully exploit the existing town infrastructure and to explore the development a of a fibre build-out model," said Benty.

She said she also wants to see the creation of a comprehensive yet user-friendly development guideline for developers and  complete the zoning bylaw and the business licence bylaw. The official community plan—which Benty said is the single most important document that summarizes the broad community vision and what the community aspires to be—will be under review.

"The document outlines our endeavour to grow a liveable community with leisure, cultural and economic opportunities in a healthy sustainable environment," said Benty.

Top five for the next three years

• To continue to plan for long-term sustainability of our community assets,
• to leverage our existing resources (human, financial, capital, natural) in order to maximize their usage for the benefit of all taxpayers and user groups,
• to continue to make beautification and revitalization a priority for tourists and residents,
• to continue working with senior levels of government on ongoing road projects, and
• ongoing development of the broadband infrastructure as a key component to economic development.

Benty's personal side

Family?  
I am married to a local teacher and we have three adult children. We have lived in Golden for 17 years. My husband grew up here so we came back to raise kids near grandparents.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Kitchener, Ontario, St. John’s, Newfoundland, and spent my teen years in Peachland, British Columbia.

What are your downtime activities?
I love reading, running, weight training, cross-country skiing, biking, hiking, cooking, travelling and spending time with family and friends.

What are your must-reads?
I am part of a book club, so I read a variety of books—my library is full of personal development and leadership books. Currently I am reading The Executive and The Elephant. I follow a radio talk show called “How she really does it” with Koren Motekaitis.