A new agenda for Kimberley

Don McCormick wants to see more economic development in Kimberley, so he’s taking a leadership position to achieve it

On November 15, Don McCormick was elected mayor of the City of Kimberley, B.C. — Photo courtesy Don McCormick

Don McCormick is a relative rarity among mayors in B.C.’s small communities in that he’s not even semi-retired. The newly elected mayor of Kimberley is the busy owner-operator of his own consulting company, Synersales Management, and he recognizes that balancing his time between his business interests and the interests of the City of Kimberley will be a challenge.

What was your motivation for running for mayor?

The primary reason I ran for council three years ago was to encourage an economic development agenda. Near the end of the term, it seemed to me that nothing had changed, and I drew the conclusion that the only way I would be able to accomplish change is as mayor. The mayor is really the one who sets the agenda and promotes the agenda, so I made my agenda known and I got the support.

What character trait do you think will be most valuable to you as mayor?

Some of my strengths are in the area of team building, communication and not getting sidetracked. There are so many day-to-day operational things going on within a municipality that it’s very easy to get distracted. Being able to stay focused and relentless in pursuit of the goal is important, and I’m a goal-oriented, results-driven person.

What will be your biggest challenge in the first six months?

I think the biggest challenge we’ll face as council will be driving the cultural shift that’s needed. As well as managing the day-to-day operations, we’ll need to accomplish the investment activities required to achieve the long-term goals that we have set for ourselves.

I’d say that we need to start broadening our horizons and doing more with the resources we have available.

Is there a goal that you are specifically looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to showing the naysayers that we can, in fact, bring industry to this region. A lot of the issues and opportunities are the same for Kimberley and for Cranbrook, and I think we need to get our heads together as a sort of super-community and come up with some common goals that we can focus on. It will give us more resources to work with, and I think it’s time we were open to this. Whether we’ll be able to achieve our goals in this term remains to be seen, but we can certainly make a good start.

What do you do for recreation?

My wife, Bev, and I love to golf together. In the winter, we like to go snowshoeing with our dog. A few times a year, we manage a trip to Toronto to see our sons and our grandson—that’s important to us.