Dear Editor:
Do you know what a mission statement is, and what it means? Perhaps you’ve read your bank’s while standing in line. Or perhaps, you received literature in the mail about a business that wants your business, and the first thing you see is their mission statement. Perhaps you didn’t give it much thought; yet it is one of the most important tools a business has.
It is the foundation that successful businesses build on. Mission statements describe the basic philosophy of the business, and its purpose(s) for being.
In other words, a company is telling you what it wants to accomplish. It is written simply and precisely so it’s easily understood: it can be used as a guide, to help the company accomplish what its aims are, to help the people in charge make decisions that are right, and not necessarily easy. To filter out what is important and what is not.
Are you aware of our town’s mission statement?
Town of Ponoka Mission Statement
Integrity, Enterprise and Progress
“We will provide our community accessible government and quality services in a responsible manner within a healthy environment.”
Value Statements
The fundamental values, which guide the Town of Ponoka organization: Integrity: We will be honest, responsible, and trustworthy.
Service: We have a strong commitment to serving our community.
Excellence: We will strive for the highest quality in all that we do.
Respect: We will treat others the way we would want them to treat us.
Communication: We will maintain transparency and open communication between the community and the Town’s government
The mission statement for Ponoka is concise and easy to understand. Sadly, over the last several years, it should have been referred instead it has been forgotten. We have had councillors who vote with each other, regardless of the impact of their decision. They feel it is more important to honour an agreement with each other, rather than care for interests of our community. That is why we have to get involved in our town’s future, to stop this pandering by our elected officials. For it is through all of us, Ponoka either flourishes or flounders. I, for one, can see a Ponoka that flourishes like a community garden, everyone contributes and everyone enjoys the fruits of that labour.
I hope by sharing our ideas we can start a dialogue that can take us to the next level. With the election coming in October, you will have an opportunity to question decisions councillors who sat this past three years made, and to question your fellow citizens who are running for the first time.
Our town fathers from a time that has been forgotten, wrote the guide we should be using in this day, Integrity, Enterprise and Progress.
Marc Yaworski
