It has been a mixed bag this year for the Village of Clyde, but mayor Doug Nyal has a positive outlook on the year past and the one ahead.
Yet one big event overshadowed all others in terms of community pride in 2014.
“The success in 2014 would have been our birthday celebration, the centennial anniversary,” he said. “I’m really proud of that.”
Another of the most significant successes the village saw this year was tied in to one of the most significant challenges — difficulty in hiring a full-time public works employee.
“Community spirit is alive and well in the Village of Clyde,” Nyal said. “You can drive around and see it; everybody’s yard’s clean and the garbage is all disposed of. It’s really pleasing to see.”
There have, of course, been some big challenges for the village — mostly in the form of the ongoing viability review process that was instigated by a 2013 petition.
“The review was definitely a challenge for the village,” he said. “For the councillors and administration staff on the committee, it’s been very stressful for them.”
Nyal said the process has caused a significant amount of concern among residents, as well, in terms of what dissolution would mean.
“We talk about our community spirit in the village, and part of that is the community working with council and everybody pulling in the same direction,” he said. “The fear is that if we became part of the county, that partnership would be lost and it would just be the county doing what they think is right without any consultation with residents.”
The challenges associated with the viability review will likely extend into 2015, when the review team is expected to make recommendations to council on how best to move forward in accordance with the review team’s recommendations.
“Council would have to take it to the people and the people would have to decide what they want to do,” he said.
Nyal said another challenge in the coming year will be collaboration between the town, county and village. While discussions are ongoing in many different areas of potential collaboration, it’s not always easy.
“That’s been getting very stressful and strenuous in the past year; it hasn’t been going well between the three municipalities. We’re trying to collaborate and work well but there always seems to be some obstacles thrown up in front of us that turn us away,” he said.
“As seasoned councillors we keep going back and hoping we’ll make some progress.”
