It’s not often a politician, municipal, provincial or federal, leaves the political arena without having failed in a re-election bid.
Such is not the case for Banff Councillor Stavros Karlos, however, as he took part in his last council meeting, Tuesday (Oct. 10) and eased out of the political picture by making a final notice of motion and closing the meeting with a few choice comments concerning a refrain heard often in both Banff and Canmore.
Karlos is stepping away from another run for council due to wanting to spend more time with his family and business interests.
For the notice of motion, Karlos went back to his beginnings as a councillor from 10 years ago; at a time he stated he wanted to pedestrianize Banff Avenue.
“It’s always been near and dear to my heart,” he said, adding it would die, but saying a future council or councillor could pick it up from the ashes.
In pointing out Banff’s status as a national park and environmental leader and, “whereas motor vehicles are one of the top leading causes of death and injury in Canada and are detrimental to the health of human beings,” and because locals and visitors want to enjoy a peaceful, calm downtown Banff experience, “That the Town of Banff develop a comprehensive strategy to pedestrianize the 100 and 200 blocks of Banff Avenue.
“I will not be able to follow up on that, so I will leave that out in the ether and hopefully one day that will move along, because that is a dream.”
With Mayor Karen Sorensen allowing Karlos to close his last meeting with a statement, he admitted to being outspoken, and unashamedly so and thanked council members and residents for allowing him to serve (giving up his 30s to council, as Coun. Corrie DiManno suggested).
“Unfortunately we live in an era where people can say what they want, however they want, and spread it out there and it all counts as real news and (the media) is challenged by this every single day.
“I hear from people each and every day that council is controlled by administration and I’m here to say council sets strategic direction, and has worked hard to set strategic direction and we’re blessed to have an administration that has as much internal capacity as they do to assist us to make the best decisions possible for our community.
“And I do believe we make good decisions. Whether or not I agree with everybody at this table is completely irrelevant. What is important is that we receive good information, and we do, and I have to say, on behalf of myself, if I didn’t have the support of such a strong and deep administrative team I don’t believe our community would be where it is.
“We have a community of 8,000 people and when you look at the services and the infrastructure that we control, and maintain for four million (visitors) a year, it is incredible.
“No community of eight and a half thousand residents has an advanced traffic management system like we have. We have one of the best wastewater systems anywhere and we have our infrastructure funded so residents don’t have to pay for that.
“On behalf of myself, I want to thank each and every one of you (administration). Mr. Earl, it has been an honour working with you for the last 10 years. You’re a leader and your leadership is amazing and I believe that with your assistance we’ve made Banff a much better place.”
