Morden has overcome numerous obstacles since the October election, but they aren't out of the woods.

At the State of the City Address Friday, Mayor Brandon Burley said council is happy with the city's current state, explaining with each challenge they overcome, the city's efficiency improves. However, the city is still facing some hurdles.

In the last six months, the city has hired a City Manager, Executive Assistant, and will be announcing a new Communications Director in the next few weeks, but still requires a City Engineer, Deputy City Manager for Operations, and a Public Works Foreman.

"With every one of those positions being filled, it decreases the load of that challenge. With the Deputy City Manager for Operations, who is also the engineer, not being in place, we're probably going to have to go out-of-house to meet our programming and infrastructure challenges going into the summer," said Burley.

One of the projects the city has committed to is traffic controls at PTH 3 and LaVeredrye Blvd. Burley shared going out-of-house isn't ideal, but they will do what needs to be done.

The 2018 Satisfaction Survey was also addressed. According to the survey, citizens are satisfied with Morden's parks, recreation options, and beaches, and almost all were unanimous in saying they are satisfied in Morden's police service.

The things people had concerns with weren't anything surprising, said Burley.

"The concerns from residents were all things we knew coming in. We knew the roads, sidewalks; our infrastructure was crumbling, we knew water quality was an issue, and we've known that both on testing as well as on feedback. Communication, of course, was a big one, over 80 percent of respondents said that if they had a non-emergency water break, they had not received satisfactory or any notice of it."

Burley said the lack of communication is something that needs to change, and the solution is the new Communications Director.

City council has put a lot of time into figuring out what they want for Morden, said Burley, and what is best for the community.

Some of these priorities include:

  • Cemetery space,
  • Increasing the Value of Stephen Street,
  • Improving organizational health,
  • Improving water quality and security,
  • Economic development,
  • Service standards,
  • Tourism and marketing,
  • Investing in Morden's immigration program,
  • And finding creative uses of tax credits to increase the size of their toolbox.

At the end of April, Morden will be releasing its financial plan; Burley gave some insight into what people can expect.

"It's going to be very nuts and bolts, it's going to be roads, sidewalks, water quality; it's going to be very much infrastructure oriented. There are previously committed expenses that we are on the hook for, what you're going to see from this council, and it might also be a benefit that we spend a year understanding what our goals are before spending taxpayer dollars, that we have a pragmatic budget for this year."

Though there continue to be challenging developments, Burley said the council is working tirelessly for Morden, and with each challenge they overcome, they can improve their efficiency and improve their ability to deliver value for tax dollars.