Earlier this year at the annual Mayor’s Luncheon, Armand Hurford announced that he wouldn’t be running for the position of Squamish’s mayor in the next civic election.
The Squamish Chief interviewed Hurford over the phone to talk about what led him to his decision, his plans for the future and any advice he would give to the person who steps into his shoes.
What follows is a version of that conversation edited for length and clarity.
Q: How do you feel since breaking the news on June 9?
A: It felt good to say it out loud, but ... it wasn't a decision that I made going up the gondola on the way to the event or anything like that. I do my utmost to be as forthcoming as I can be with this folks, and in the couple of months leading up to that, when I already knew what I wanted to do, people were asking me what I was going to do, or what I wanted to do, and I had to be kind of a bit cagey on it. So it feels much nicer to be able to speak directly about it.
Q: When did you make your decision not to run and was there anything that triggered it?
A: There was nothing that really triggered it, [it was] more just thinking about the future and what I want for myself and my family, and having discussions with them as well. It's a role that is an incredible privilege to have, and it also comes at a cost, and that is, to do the work is kind of all encompassing, or all consuming, I guess.
Often, the extra time that it takes to do [the job] comes at the expense of things that are good for your physical and mental health, and time with your family and that kind of thing. I think we maybe are all looking forward to a finish line, and for this sort of pace to not be something that happens in perpetuity.
Also, once I knew [I wasn’t going to run again], yes, I wanted to be free, to be able to have the discussions and explore what's next for myself, but also to give the community time to contemplate whether they want to step forward and try to take a run at the role, whether that's my council colleagues or the community more broadly. Because it does take a lot to even organize for a run, never mind organize your life so you can step into a role that, just by the very nature of it, is temporary.
Q: Do you plan to run for a councillor position or will you step away from local politics as a whole?
A: No, I won't be running for council. At this point, the plan is to step away from elected life. It's something that I thought I would come to later in life, in general, and then ... it sort of happened earlier than I thought. So maybe it's something that I could see myself revisiting, or exploring elected opportunities in the future, but certainly not the next step. I need to recover a bit from the efforts of the last eight years. It has been seven at this point, but by the time we get there, it'll be eight.
Q: What do you plan on doing after then?
A: I don't know, that's the honest answer, but I will say this role has exposed me to, I don't even know how many positions and organizations and initiatives that I just wasn't aware of before, that are really interesting. So now, with the announcement, and subsequent to that, I can explore those things without feeling like having an element of cloak and dagger to them. But I don't have a clear destination at this point, but I have some space to explore that.
Q: What was the response from the community to your announcement?
A: I heard from people thanking me for the work, I've heard some people saying 'We'd love it if you could continue' ... but I also think that just Murphy's Law, we went right into the Dryden Creek fire response right after and it kind of took over and became the most important thing, and it clearly was. So I've had some feedback, but also, it wasn't top of mind for everybody.
Q: Is there anyone on council you would like to replace you or do you think some fresh eyes could be better for the community?
A: I think you could do the role without having been a councillor. However, I think you would need to be very intentional about it, whether that's spending every Tuesday for the next 12-months in council, reading reports and watching. I think you could do a reasonable job with the right skill set and initiative to get yourself up to speed. However, when I look around the province and I see mayors and councils that have been very dysfunctional, and I think, doing a disservice to their communities, a lot of those are headed by a mayor that hasn't been a councillor.
As to who would be best for the mayor's role, I think we have some very capable humans on council, and I believe we have some very capable humans ... in the general public of Squamish, but it takes someone being intentional, as far as getting ready to do the job, as well as bringing themselves up to speed with how the various processes work. There's a lot more nuance to actually doing the work than nearly anyone understands, in the general public.
Q: The province announced today (Aug. 21) the housing targets for Squamish over the next five years as being 1,069 homes. Do you think it is possible to meet it?
A: I think we have likely more than that approved already. One of the challenges with the targets is, I understand what the province is trying to accomplish here; however, where they're measured is really challenging because, yes, we have control over rezoning areas and all these types of things, but we don't have control over individual landowners’ finances or the actual piece that triggers a building permit, like to actually build it.
So I see some challenges with being sort of held to account, to something where we don't have all the control, but at the same time I think it's entirely possible. I also think you could argue that we've been meeting our virtual housing targets for quite some time. And I don't know that anyone in Squamish thinks that developments are happening too slowly.
Q: Do you have any advice for whoever steps into your shoes as mayor?
A: I'll take it away from being the mayor's shoes, and just go to elected life, because it's different. The elected officials that I know, are all just so engaged in their community, and want to be that agent of change and all those things, but the role forces you to be so introspective and do so much work on yourself and checking in with your values and your skill set and that part of it, I really wasn't [prepared for]. Like I was prepared to debate clauses of the OCP ... and go on these very nerdy policy pieces. But that piece of self reflection and constantly checking in with your values while you have very challenging conversations with your colleagues is hard, and that part of it, I really hadn't given a lot of consideration to and I know that piece of it has also been surprising to other elected officials.
Q: Is there anything else I haven’t asked you that you would like to say?
A: I really want to restate that this is not [an exit interview]. This isn't coasting to the finish line. This is about having a finish line in sight and pushing towards that. I tried to say this in my remarks when I announced, but ... in a running race at the track, or in a cycling event… when you come through the finish line into the last lap, they ring a bell, and during that lap, it is not a time to ease up. Quite the opposite. It's a doubling down, to push all the way to the line. So I'm really sort of reinvigorated to give everything that I have to the role and to be free from whatever pre-campaigning and campaigning that may happen in the community in the run up to the election. I'm really excited to finish off strong this time and do my utmost best for the people of Squamish.
