Sean McIntyre, Mayor of Sylvan Lake (Photo: Town of Sylvan Lake)

By Josh Hall and Sheldon Spackman

AUMA award of excellence

Sylvan Lake’s mayor recognized for outstanding civic leadership

Sep 28, 2020 | 3:06 PM

It’s a special honour for Sylvan Lake’s mayor.

Sean McIntyre was recognized during last week’s Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) annual convention with the organization’s Award of Excellence for Outstanding Civic Leadership.

The award acknowledges outstanding civic leadership by either past or present municipal elected officials who have held office for at least three years in Alberta.

“It really is an honour and I certainly didn’t get to this place alone,” McIntyre said Monday, thanking his family first and foremost, as well as council colleagues. “I’ve been working with such a great team, both with council and administration, and of course an amazing community. It’s only by working together that these types of things are possible.”

McIntyre says one of his biggest memories from his time as mayor thus far is when Sylvan Lake was named Kraft Hockeyville in 2014.

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“That’s something that we all worked together on as a community and as a region towards, so that was very exciting,” he recalls. “The opening of the NexSource Centre has been incredible, and the initiation of the development around Pogadl Park.”

Other ‘lesser known’ accomplishments McIntyre is proud to have been involved in include the regional wastewater line to Red Deer, the Central Alberta Economic Partnership, and the modernization of several town bylaws.

McIntyre says advancements have also been made to Town of Sylvan Lake infrastructure during his time in office.

“That includes water, wastewater, roads, sidewalks and our public facilities, and of course the legislation,” he explains. “I’m also really happy to be part of the formulation of some of the first documents that our community has had, such as our vision mission, values, and strategic goals which started back in 2014 and have been amended since. And we were one of the first municipalities to have a parental leave policy installed.”

Reflecting on the beginning of his career in municipal politics in 2010, McIntyre says his desire to run was just an extension of years of volunteering and a philosophy instilled by his parents to always give back more than you take.

“That has meant volunteer activity with all sorts of organizations,” he tells. “It was the petitioning for an outdoor skate park in Sylvan Lake way back in 2008 or 2009 that sort of entered me into the light of local politics. Then I started to get a lot of encouragement from people to actually run and be a part of council at the time.”

Moving forward, McIntyre says he will remain focused on resiliency for Sylvan Lake and the surrounding region.

“Right now we’ve got a real focus on economic development, helping to provide training and coaching for our existing local businesses to be able to survive and thrive through the pandemic,” he says.

“We’re speaking with the government about ambulance dispatch and economic development initiatives in our community that can help us come through the pandemic and go forward after with greater success.”