Photo: Liam Verster / EverythingGP staff

By Shaun Penner

As 2020 comes to a close...

Grande Prairie’s resiliency, adaptability shine through as Given reflects on 2020

Dec 31, 2020 | 1:21 PM

It wasn’t the year Bill Given planned for, but with 2020 now coming to a close, he looks back at the year that was with a sense of pride of how residents, staff and entrepreneurs of the City of Grande Prairie handled the onslaught of changes throughout the year.

Grande Prairie’s now former Mayor, who as of December 31 has officially resigned from his position to become the new CAO for the Municipality of Jasper, says the COVID-19 pandemic showed him two overriding themes: resiliency and adaptability.

“I think through the course of the pandemic, Grande Prairie residents, (City Hall), our local entrepreneurs and businesses and society, has shown that we are resilient. We can handle these massive changes on a moment’s notice.”

“It’s not easy. It’s not fun. But we’re capable of it.”

The year 2020 will, of course, be remembered as the year of the dreaded words “COVID” and “coronavirus”, but as Given takes his leave to head south down Highway 40, he says he will remember his last year in office as a year where residents showed a great deal of compassion to one another.

“Particularly through the early days of COVID-19, where people were really appreciating that there was a risk of loneliness and people needed to reach out and check in on one another,” said Given. “I think we have sort of built that as a normal way of working now, but it was something that Grande Prairie residents picked up right away.”

Unsurprising to Given after a decade in the Mayor’s office was City Hall’s preparedness to handle the early days of the pandemic and its uncertainty, as past experiences had already provided them the tools to hit the ground running in its response to this unprecedented emergency.

“Our administration was ready to react, because fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it, over the last number of years our municipal teams have had a lot of experience with large scale disasters and emergency evacuations,” said Given, pointing to the 2019 Chuckegg Creek wildfire which led to the evacuation of thousands of residents from High Level and surrounding communities, like Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement.

“Our team of professionals in municipal administration, across the region, they have a lot of muscle memory when it comes to how to react in an emergency situation.”

That response wasn’t easy though. Given says one of the most important things council and administration had to focus on right away was containing costs, for both the City and its ratepayers, and ensuring the City’s revenues were protected.

He says a quick response to those issues was crucial to ensure core services continued to operate as normal, amid the whirlwind of changes in the world.

“Things like snow removal and working with Aquatera, making sure there is still clean water coming through the taps,” said Given. “All of these sorts of basic services that people don’t really give a lot of second thought to, they need to continue to run. So, we needed to ensure that the City’s revenue was protected.”

With those revenues protected, Given points to the City being able to go ahead with the vast majority of its planned capital projects, and even more thanks to several economic stimulus grants from the provincial and federal governments.

Given was pleased to see the large amount of road improvements that took place in 2020, particularly on the old bypass, which is now under City control with the completion of the new Highway 43 bypass around the northwest portion of the City.

He also looks back fondly on many other projects and initiatives that were able to get going in 2020.

“We had the launch of the mobile outreach worker program, where we have some new teams engaging with our street-engaged population in the downtown core. We opened the new day shelter where the Saint Lawrence Centre is operating.”

He also reflects on 2020 being the first full year of operations for the outdoor pool at Muskoseepi Park, after several delays.

Given even looks back fondly at the installation of new way-finding signage along the trails of Muskoseepi Park, as well as new welcome signs at the north and west entrances of Grande Prairie as big highlights of 2020.

“Looking, in retrospect, something like new entry signs to the community. Kind of in the scheme of things it looks like a pretty small thing,” said Given. “But we have a new way to welcome people to Grande Prairie, and welcome people back home to Grande Prairie.”

As Given says his final goodbyes to his home community, he hopes residents carry the same resiliency and adaptability they displayed in 2020 well into the future.

“I think the vast majority of residents and businesses have kind of done what we have always done, up here in the north: they just get on with business,” said Given. “They support one another and they support their neighbours.

“That’s the thing I will remember most fondly about 2020.”