Kot Calls For Common Sense Change To Drive City Forward
“I will be donating the pay raise if elected to the charities in Moose Jaw,” John Kot mayoral candidate told viewers at the Mayoralty Forum on Thursday evening.
Put on by the Moose Jaw Chamber of Commerce the forum allowed the three candidates for Mayor - John Kot, Nancy Nash and Fraser Tolme the opportunity to tell prospective voters their past and what their vision is for the future.
“Moose Jaw is a great city it seems over the years it is the same old, same old. Everything is run the same and nothing really changes. It seems like whenever a business is interested in coming to Moose Jaw they have to go through so many hoops and too much red tape,” he said, adding “I’m just tired of sitting around with my buddies and listening to them saying the City should do this or the City should do that.”
Kot spoke about his humble beginnings and how he managed to find full-time employment at the age of 17 at Safeway for 21 years while at the same time becoming involved in operating his own small business for over 30 years.
His humble beginnings were being in a family with seven children that did not have a lot of money.
Kot spoke about his father employed delivering chicken for the Swing-In (now the Burger Cabin) or $1.25 per delivery. His mother was a housewife where she cared for the children and the home.
“He delivered Kentucky Fried Chicken for $1.25 per delivery while my mom stayed home doing her best to feed us. She spent countless hours on her sewing machine making all of our clothes so we could go to school.”
John Kot - Moose Jaw Today/Moose Jaw Express photo
The great flood of 1974 gave Kot a great appreciation for Moose Jaw. The flood came within a foot of reaching the Kot family home.
“My dad was devastated. He lost his job and didn’t know what to do. Little did we know it was a blessing in disguise. So much help and support came from the people of Moose Jaw and from there on it was indeed the Friendly City,” he said.
This was Kot’s foundation built his life in Moose Jaw on.
If elected he promised to do his “best to make the right changes for the City of Moose Jaw.
‘What’s going on?' was a major question for Kot.
“I hear from so many people who phone City Hall with inquiries and questions and the City never returns their calls. What’s going on?, he said. “City Hall needs to serve the people not the other way around.”
One major thing Kot disagreed with was the 21 percent pay increase for the mayor and the 28 percent increase for councillors.
“I can’t believe Council voted for a raise in the middle of this pandemic. Families are struggling to pay bills. Many people are uncertain about job security. And businesses are wondering if they will make it through the pandemic. City employees get one to two percent pay raises and Council along with the Mayor get 21 to 28 percent pay raise.”
“Apparently ‘Council and the Mayor don’t care about us taxpayers. Shame on them, ”
Responding to a question about the pandemic and how to help local businesses thrive after it is over he said there are a lot of unknowns.
“No one knows where we are headed with this pandemic or when it would end…we are all hoping for normal but this might be our normal until a vaccine is found…if COVID continues it will impact the City’s budgets,: he said, adding that the concerns and the associated costs should be shared with the Province.
“Let’s not forget we are under the direction of both the provincial and federal governments. They have the experts and the ability to build programs and supports we don’t have at the municipal level. The people of Moose Jaw should be reminded to support local business whenever we can. That is something we can do and it is an important step during this pandemic.”
When it came to the question of attracting high tech innovation that is related to the pandemic Kot said that the Coty needed to have better promotion to attract new business.
“We need to work with our two MLAs to get the word out. Most people don’t know we are only 35 minutes away from a major airport…but looking at the same old bricks and mortar ain’t going to cut it. The world has changed and it is continuing to change.”
He spoke about taking advantage of the positives the city has to attract high tech innovators. Things such as the first fibre optic network in the province, parks and affordable housing options.
“Work closely with business interests.”
On the issue of finding the funds for the repair and replacement of necessary infrastructure Kot said he would have to look into it a little further if elected;
Kot did say there needed to be a review of roads that are in good shape and for no apparent reason repaved.
“Perfectly good roads that have been repaved again and we have left other roads that people drive over everyday just neglected. So we will definitely look at that situation and we will deal with it.”
Kpt said he would like to see an educational program with children to help prevent the proliferation of drugs and the violent crime that comes from it.
His idea is to have the police go to the schools more often and speak to the children about the harmful effects upon their lives in an effort to have children “just say no” when it comes to drug use.
“They will take over your life and then there are problems that begin with them starting to do break and enters and a whole bunch of bad things. So I think we should get more education, more education in (the schools) and we’ll go from there.”
On the issue of work closer with the provincial and federal governments Kot feels we need to work with and talk with the two Moose JAw MLAs.
“We should say we don’t care what you guys have done for us in the past we want to know what you will do for us in the present and the future so we will work together with them and the provincial government to help the taxpayers of Moose Jaw.”
First of three part series - Next up Nancy Nash.