Kirkland Lake is reflecting on its efforts and achievements in 2023 and are also looking ahead at what’s to come in 2024.
Some of the hot topics last year included traffic calming, physician recruitment and the town’s fire dispatch moving to Timmins.
Mayor Stacy Wight said the need for greater traffic calming measures was a huge concern among council members and residents.
“We seem to live in a society that’s just kind of go, go, go, even in a small community. So currently, we do have two portable radar and traffic accounting units that are utilized in various areas, especially in our community safety zones around parks and schools,” she said.
In November, Coun. Rick Owens had also brought an initiative to the council chambers regarding an innovative traffic calming measure involving life-size cutouts of children.
“This is something that we saw when we attended AMO in the summer, and honestly and truly, seeing it on the trade room floor just literally made Rick stop in his tracks. As a grandparent, you know, seeing a small child holding a sign that said, I believe, 'slow down for my safety,' it just really, really had an affect on him,” Wight said.
“He brought these measures forward to be investigated by staff and a report being brought forward. So, we're looking forward to costing and the availability being brought forth.”
RELATED: Slowing traffic on Kirkland Lake council's radar
In regards to physician recruitment, initial conversations have begun with the president and CEO of Blanche River Health, Jorge VanSlyke, Wight said. VanSlyke serves as co-chair of physician recruitment and retention committee established in October in hopes of attracting doctors to the Kirkland Lake and Englehart region.
“Jorge and our CAO, Alan Smith, have actually communicated quite often in this regard. We're really looking forward to more meaningful partnerships between the municipality itself and the hospital and other community stakeholders, because definitely recruiting in the north is difficult over all sectors, especially in medical, and we need to protect what we do have and we need to increase that capacity for bringing more physicians to the area,” Wight said.
“There hasn't been any specific plans brought forward between us, but we're really hoping in 2024 to kind of put pen to paper and get things done.”
RELATED: Kirkland Lake, Englehart looking to recruit, retain doctors
In August, it was announced that Kirkland Lake fire dispatch services would be entering into a three-year agreement with the Timmins Police 911 Communications Centre.
“We really see it that this will improve the services to the community, and the safety to fire personnel. We had received a report on this a few months back as well and it's really beneficial to have those services moved closer and the fire chief spoke very highly of this service,” Wight said.
SEE: Kirkland Lake fire dispatch moving to Timmins
There were many other achievements last year for Wight.
“I think the biggest highlight of this past year was the creation of the tourism development corporation. It's going to aid and encourage tourist activities in the Town of Kirkland Lake, along with hiring our new economic development manager and the implementation of the municipal accommodation tax to fund upcoming initiatives. I think Kirkland Lake is well-situated for the year ahead,” she said.
Early this year, Wight said they look forward to unveiling the children’s department refresh project.
“This project had an estimated cost of about $650,000 and it was fully funded by donations of very generous individuals within our community. It was just an incredible gift to the community by all these members. It should be all done by February or early March,” she said.
“I can't say how long it's been since it's had a true refresh, but I'm going say like, confidently, 30 years. Other than a couple of coats of paint, it's looked at this same for 30 years. So it's just going to be such a big change and we're really excited about it.”
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Wight said they’re also looking forward to breaking ground with CHAR technologies on Archer Drive.
“That'll be happening in the spring as well. CHAR Technologies is like a biomass green company that's going to come to Kirkland Lake, and they're looking to employ about 10 full-time employees to start. So that's really exciting for our community,” she said.
