My Opening Remarks at the all-candidates forum

The all-candidates forum was held at Rossland Summit School on Monday, September 28. For everyone who could not make it, and for anyone who would like to read it again, this is the opening I gave.

Hi everyone, my name’s Tara McDougall, and I am a very lucky transplant to Rossland. My husband and I first visited in 2016. And we purchased our home here in 2019. I feel incredibly fortunate that we’ve been able to build a life here.

I went to school to be an accountant, and then I ended up spending 20 years working in health regulation. Yes, both of those things are exactly as exciting as they sound.

But they've given me skills that are directly applicable to serving our community on City Council. Every single day, I work with governance, with bylaws, policies, and legislation. I also handle budgeting, financial forecasting, and risk assessment.

When I look at what's ahead for Rossland, we have many competing priorities to balance. There are infrastructure challenges and affordability concerns. We need to manage growth and development, while also protecting our environment. None of those issues exists in isolation, so we need to be looking at the whole picture. And that's actually where I think my professional experience can be really helpful, having a 360 degree view of complex issues.

I've never been in public office, so this is all brand new to me. What I can tell you is what matters to me, and that's building a sustainable community. To me, that includes our economy and affordability, so people can continue to live their lives here. It means protecting our environment as a foundation for our health and our quality of life.

And it means always keeping an eye on the future and considering the long-term impacts of the decisions we make today. The City has already done a lot of planning around finances, infrastructure, recreation, growth and climate action. Those plans give a new Council a strong foundation to work from over the next four years. But not even the best plan can anticipate everything. Things will change, unexpected issues will come up, and there will always be things outside of our control.

I think what matters is having a council that can work through challenges together and that has the skillset to do that. I really value different perspectives because I don't think any one person is ever going to have all the answers.

I've learnt over the years that we always make better decisions when we listen to each other, when we challenge each other respectfully, and when we work together as a team to find solutions.

I’ve been asked a lot through this process: why I want to run for City Council?

And it's a very simple answer.

I love Rossland. I'm truly grateful to call this place home. I'm committed to its future, and I want to help. That's it. Full stop.

For me, being on council would be a true privilege, and I would be really honoured if I could earn your vote.

Thank you to the Rossland Rotary Club for putting on a great community event, and to everyone who came out to learn more about the candidates.