(RE)SETTING THE TERM

I’m very honoured to have been re-elected to serve as City Councillor for Ward sipiwiyiniwak and to continue to represent west Edmonton.

Before we get too far into the term, I want to take the opportunity to share a bit about how Council offices work and how I intend to communicate with you.

Residents of west Edmonton are very passionate communicators — on average we get between 100-200 emails and phone calls a day — and with the new ward boundaries, we now have the most populated ward in the city. This means that I can’t personally respond to every single inquiry, but I have two incredible staff members who are eager to help, find answers and resolve your issues. Because they are dedicated to this role, it means they can get answers much quicker than if I were doing it alone between Council and Committee meetings.

If it’s really important that you and I connect personally, please let us know you’d prefer a phone call or virtual meeting. It may take a while to coordinate (Council schedules can be a bit hectic), but I’m always happy to chat about what issues are concerning you.

As a City of Edmonton workplace, we are bound by the Respectful Workplace Policy. This means that my office has a zero tolerance policy on harassment and discrimination, including over social media channels. Aside from being an unpleasant experience, no one deserves to be subjected to harassment in their workplace. In public forums, like social media, harassment sends the message to bystanders that it's not safe to participate and that message is contrary to the city that we’re trying to build.

On average, City Council members read over 34,000 pages of material a year, attend over 450 hours of Council meetings, and govern a $3B corporation that has 73 lines of business. This is a highly complex organization, and we’re doing our best to make things clearer, simpler and more productive for Edmontonians. We love what we do — myself included — so thank you, again, for letting us do it on your behalf.

I look forward to another successful term with your engagement, involvement, and support.

-Sarah