Greetings! I am honoured to reflect on the Association’s work in 2021 and acknowledge the incredible leadership of local governments throughout B.C. As the LGMA both serves and is led by local government leaders, the Association’s successes are also the shared successes of the local government sector.
As leaders in local government, we experienced some significant challenges in 2021. While we worked hard to adapt to the ever-changing world, we demonstrated strength and resiliency. We sought to build on the agility we developed at the start of the pandemic, finding ways to connect with staff remotely, enhance mental health supports, support neighbouring local governments during emergency operations, and show up for our citizens. We rose to the challenge and became more agile, innovative and stronger than ever before. We are proud of how local governments have demonstrated leadership across the province. Each of you has played an incredibly important role in the recovery efforts for your peers and citizens.
The LGMA has been working alongside local government to ensure our members have the tools to respond to these challenges. While the Association quickly shifted to virtual delivery in 2020, in 2021, we sought to improve our business model. Staff sought to enhance interactivity in the virtual environment, found new ways to connect members to facilitate peer support and knowledge sharing, and created new and accessible on-demand training options. At the same time, the LGMA also prepared for a transition in leadership. We cannot reflect on 2021 without taking a moment to thank Nancy Taylor, former Executive Director, for her incredible dedication and hard work.
As you will see in this Annual Report, the LGMA’s work to adapt to the pandemic and improve virtual training and member services paid off; the various training sessions, online courses, webinars and town halls were timely and effective. Utilizing virtual delivery allowed us to provide training and services to members who historically could not always attend the in-person training. Local government leaders in remote locations could volunteer to share their expertise in new ways. Participant feedback was positive for both the quality and relevancy of the content, and offers opportunities to improve networking and connectivity over virtual platforms. The LGMA adopted member feedback and worked towards the continuous, formative improvement of training and services. We are grateful to those who took a moment to let us know how we were doing.
In 2021, we continued to work towards achieving the goals set out in our strategic plan. The LGMA utilized different delivery models to address geographic, time and financial challenges, enhanced First Nations reconciliation and relationship-building learning opportunities, and “coached up” new volunteer presenters to support robust programming. We worked to improve member services and engage new partnerships to ensure local governments had the right tools wherever possible. We also explored how we engage with our members as we looked for ways to improve our programs. Local governments continued to commit to strong ethical principles, and over 1,000 members completed the LGMA Online Ethics Course.
We are grateful for the support of our members, volunteers, sponsors and local government partners across B.C. Without your support, we would not have been able to make such significant achievements in supporting excellence in local government.
It has been my honour to serve the Association. On behalf of the staff and your Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to present the 2021 Annual Report to the membership. This report summarizes the LGMA’s efforts over the past year and progress against key strategic metrics.
