The transition year that will be remembered as ‘post-COVID’ even as the pandemic continued, was, as expected, full of challenges for the mayor of the fastest growing town in Alberta.
Cochrane mayor Jeff Genung paused for a moment of reflection with The Eagle last week, as Christmas lights were still being arranged on the trees outside his office.
As he often is in meetings, Genung listened carefully to questions, and was thoughtful as he articulated his impressions.
A recent visit to a Grade 6 class was one of Genung’s favourite light-hearted moments. In the ‘Q and A’ portion of the visit, a curious boy wanted to know what was “that guy’s name on the horse,” in reference to the iconic Men of Vision statue. Before Genung could gather himself, a nearby classmate piped up, “I think it’s Steve.”
Genung laughs at the memory. There were not a lot of laughs the rest of the year.
Inflation, supply chain issues, mask debates, businesses closing, and ongoing communications challenges linked to lingering pandemic precautions all combined to make the business of governing the Town of Cochrane even more demanding than usual.
As Cochrane’s population passed the 34,000 mark this year – with no slowdown in sight – Genung gave no indication he had any inclination to tap the brakes on new development, even as he recognized the hard fact that growth in population does not finance growth in service costs. Growth doesn’t pay for growth.
“I believe we have a good problem. It’s how we manage that growth,” he said.
He pointed out that growth is facilitated by land use decisions made 10 years ago. The land use decision resulting in a green light for Greystone reflects a strategic direction Genung was happy to defend.
“We want to grow from the inside, versus continuous sprawl,” he said.
It’s a far more cost-effective approach when new services and new roads don’t have to be built.
Coming up, he’s looking forward to discussions with council over how to improve the budget process, which was at times a bit rancorous in 2022.
“I struggle when people, especially leaders, elected officials, are complaining about a system they’re actually in,” he said.
“It’s our job to make changes. To sit from year-to-year and have the same complaints . . . it’s frustrating.”
Genung, who has a construction/excavation background, pointed to pushing through the construction of the Highway 1A/22 interchange as a major accomplishment in a time when normal communication was one of the casualties of COVID-19.
In fact, his decision to first run for council (preceding his eventual run for the mayor’s office) came during an excavation site coffee break, when he was pontificating to co-workers about how they were running out of lots, and “just basically complaining” about the state of the community.
“One of the guys said, ‘Why don’t you stop complaining and run for council?’ and I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to’ and I did, and then I won, and I was like, ‘Oh, oh, now what?’” he said with a laugh.
That was in 2001, when Cochrane’s population was 11,000. The ‘now what?’ has turned into a seat in the mayor’s office for a Cochranite with deep roots in the community.
He sees the biggest part of the job as relationship-building, which became particularly difficult over the last couple of years.
“It’s all about connections, conversations, and all of that was completely turned upside down,” he said.
“But I’m energized that it’s coming back.”
The thing he cited as his biggest disappointment this year was miscommunication.
“Being misunderstood – and I think that’s a personal one,” he said. “It’s the people that comment – especially on social media – about things when they have very little fact, and are basing an opinion on something without all the background that maybe we’re privy to on council,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean I’m right all the time or that my mind can’t be changed. It’s just constant now, and it’s a constant energy drain.”
In April, Genung posted an appeal for civility on his Facebook page, saying that some criticism of council and administration had “gone too far.” He mentioned in his post that RCMP had been “contacted by frontline staff who felt unsafe.” The appeal had the opposite of the desired effect, as Genung watched the negative responses flow in immediately.
He said one of the side effects of the pandemic is how much shorter people’s fuses have become.
“I don’t think people are meaner now. I think they’re quicker to react in a negative way,” he said.
One of the consequences of that, according to Genung, is that people who once may have been inclined to send out positive or congratulatory messages have withdrawn and are not being heard from at all. He wasn’t surprised at the reaction to his post, just disappointed.
Genung made a deeply personal admission near the end of the interview. All things considered, the two COVID years had him questioning his sanity at taking on this job.
“That was the lowest I’ve been in my life,” he said. “I would literally go and sit on the side of the Cochrane hill in the middle of the night. It was a lot,” he said.
In spite of all those things, Genung said he has no regrets about deciding to run for mayor, and he’s hopeful again, now that things are getting back to a sense of pre-pandemic normalcy.
“I love a lot about what this job has to offer,” he said.
