No council will ever make everyone happy.

Every council says it wants public input. They hold surveys. They organize town halls. They encourage residents to share their thoughts on everything from taxes to recreation to economic development.

But asking is only half the job. Listening is the other half.

Over the past few months, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass asked residents to help shape its future through its 2027 Community Priorities Survey. Nearly 400 people took the time to participate, providing council with something invaluable: a snapshot of what this community values and where residents believe the municipality should focus its efforts. The question now is whether council intends to listen.

The survey produced one result that deserves particular attention.

Despite all the recent discussion about taxes, only 12 per cent of respondents said they wanted taxes reduced if it meant reducing municipal services. Eighty-eight per cent chose something else. Twenty-eight per cent said they were willing to pay higher taxes to improve or expand services, while another 50 per cent preferred holding taxes while either maintaining current services or redirecting spending toward new priorities.

That doesn’t sound like a community demanding deep budget cuts.

It sounds like a community asking council to spend wisely while continuing to invest where it matters.

The priorities residents identified reinforce that point.

When asked to select their top discretionary priorities, 68 per cent chose road repair and infrastructure maintenance. Fifty-three per cent selected economic development and business attraction. Thirty-five per cent chose affordable housing and community growth.

Those priorities should sound familiar because they are exactly the direction the previous council chose to pursue.

As a member of that council, I am proud of the work we accomplished. The apartment developments near Summit Home Hardware, in west Coleman and around Ironstone didn’t happen overnight. They were made possible because the previous council and present administation recognized that this community needed more housing and was prepared to make decisions that encouraged investment. The same is true of the Infrared Pothole Machine residents now see working throughout the municipality. That equipment wasn’t purchased by the current council. It was approved by the previous council because we understood that maintaining infrastructure is an investment in the future, not simply another expense.

Communities don’t attract investment by standing still. They attract investment by showing confidence in their future. Developers, businesses and families considering a move here pay attention to the decisions councils make. When a municipality is building, investing and planning for growth, it sends a powerful message. When the conversation shifts toward cutting budgets and shrinking operations, that sends a message too.

That is why Councillor Doreen Johnson’s proposal to have administration prepare departmental operating budgets based on a 10 per cent reduction deserves discussion. While she stated the exercise was intended to identify efficiencies rather than automatically implement cuts, a proposal of that magnitude naturally raises questions about what services, departments or programs could ultimately be affected. During debate, after receiving calls from concerned residents, she amended her motion to remove the 10 per cent target, and council ultimately directed administration to pursue the maximum achievable savings while protecting staffing, services, programs and community funding.

That is representative government working exactly as it should.

Residents spoke. The motion changed.

The same principle should apply to the municipality’s survey.

Nearly 400 people took the time to complete it because they believe their opinions matter. Those responses should not become another report that sits on a shelf until budget season arrives. They should become one of the foundations of council’s decision-making. If council asks residents what they want, then it has an obligation to give those answers real weight, even if they don’t align with preconceived ideas.

The town hall meeting tells an interesting story as well.

It was well advertised. Residents knew it was happening. Yet only 48 people chose to attend. That, too, says something.

Perhaps the majority of residents are not nearly as dissatisfied with the direction this municipality has been heading, including the growth strategy established by the previous council, as some would have us believe. After all, the municipality’s own survey found that 77 per cent of respondents rated Crowsnest Pass as a good or excellent place to live.

No council will ever make everyone happy.

Nor should it govern based solely on whoever speaks the loudest.

But when you ask your residents for their opinion, you must be prepared to hear the answer.

The municipality’s own survey doesn’t describe a community asking council to retreat. It describes a community that wants roads repaired, businesses attracted, housing built and thoughtful investments made.

In many ways, that’s exactly the course the previous council set.

The challenge now isn’t asking residents what they think. Council has already done that. The challenge is listening to what they said.