A city councillor from the City of Mount Pearl, Nfld., is visiting St. Albert this week in the hopes of learning something.
Coun. Lucy Stoyles will spend a few days meeting with members of council and the chamber of commerce. A 15-year veteran of her council, Stoyles was part of an exchange 10 years ago that saw members of both councils visit one another’s cities.
With a population of 25,000, Mount Pearl is Newfoundland-Labrador’s second largest city. Given that it’s a wealthy bedroom community located across the street from the provincial capital, it has a lot in common with St. Albert, Stoyles said. Historically, it’s had to fend off amalgamation advances by St. John’s, she said.
“They consider us as a rich community,” she said.
Last time they visited St. Albert, representatives of her city were impressed with the close relationship between St. Albert and its chamber of commerce. In subsequent years, Mount Pearl took steps to improve its relationship with its own chamber, Stoyles said.
This time around, Stoyles is anticipating a visit to Servus Credit Union Place because Mount Pearl is just beginning to plan a multi-purpose leisure centre of its own.
The visit is a good way to share information and avoid duplication of expensive studies, she said.
“If someone is doing something, there’s no use for us redoing it and paying to get it done,” she said.
Stoyles is using part of her annual professional development grant to visit St. Albert.
“I thought it was great that they just had an election and to see what else they were doing,” she said.
Mount Pearl has a large industrial base but virtually no retirees. The city is hoping to market itself as a retirement centre and Stoyles is hoping to learn from St. Albert’s business and tourism people.
“We learned a lot from them 10 years ago,” she said. “We might put in for another exchange program.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse said he’s hoping Stoyles can learn from St. Albert.
“I’ve often thought to myself it would be nice to have the time to go around the province, to sit in and watch other councils,” he said. “I’ve never taken the time to do that, so good on her.”
City manager Bill Holtby also welcomed Stoyles.
“There’s always things to be learned from other communities. We certainly don’t have the sole license to good ideas,” he said.
Stoyles was planning to meet with the chamber of commerce on Wednesday and return home on Thursday.
