Mayor Brandon Burley spoke to an intimate crowd of Morden Chamber of Commerce (MCC) members on Thursday, following the MCC Annual General Meeting.
He delivered a light-hearted speech after lunch in the Morden 55+ Activity Centre.
"First of all, this luncheon is very important, and this State the City is very important because it is adopted as a form of accountability and transparency for the City of Morden. The Chamber is a very invested member of our community and as the Chamber goes and as its business community goes, so goes the fortune of our city. And so, it's not an understatement when I say the role of the. Chamber is critically important to our community and to its citizens."
Burley added this time together is an opportunity for the businesses in Morden to learn about the resources the city has to offer, the availability of them, and to find more opportunities to work together on joint interests.
"It's also an opportunity to instill investment confidence and market confidence in the city of Morden, and there's lots to be confident about. You'll hear me say this till it's no longer true, Morden is the fastest growing city in Manitoba. 15.5% growth over 4 years as a rate of growth, there is no city in Manitoba that leads us. And we hope, very sincerely, the investments we make, in the work we do, in the partnerships we engage in, will lead to an outcome where we still are growing at that rate."
He remarked, "Growth for the sake of growth, is no real strategy." emphasizing the need for it to improve the quality of life for those living, working and owning businesses in Morden.
Burley highlighted a number of partnerships including the Chamber, surrounding municipalities, Morden's Community Development Corporation (MCDC) and the Western School Division. He noted the Western School Division is one partner who bears the weight of Morden's rapid growth to manage it with the resources it's allotted.
He recognized the need for the municipality to provide resources to businesses to grow and succeed. Investing in critical infrastructure is one of the ways this is done.
"We have two fiber installations in the City of Morden that have brought businesses and have allowed businesses not only to come here and have been the basis for businesses actually relocated here, but also allow businesses to grow and to leverage themselves even further afield by the Internet. We had a historical drought that many of you will have felt the impact of. It was an opportunity to look at the sustainability of our position in a very small watershed and to try to understand what our goals were and the opportunities that were available to us."
The partnership with the Pembina Valley Watershed District will help provide a sustainable approach to supplying water to Morden in the future. He said the city hopes to make an announcement regarding wastewater in the near future. In addition. the mayor boasted about the Morden Immigration Program. It has brought in 75 new families into the city this year, to help meet the labour shortage.
Burley noted inflation is a challenge facing the city.
"Looking forward, the City of Morden now also has one of the lowest carrying debts, municipal debt, per capita in the Province of Manitoba. We're in the bottom 5, and so that gives this Council the ability to act boldly over the next 10 years and to identify priorities and things that we can invest in, in ways we can continue the growth cycle, well into the future."
Burley took time to praise the city staff and to recognize the work they are doing to move Morden in a positive direction.
Morden's Full State of the City Address with Mayor Brandon Burley.