Comb through The Squamish Chief archives, and his name is sure to pop up. Paul Lalli was born and raised in Squamish and has raised his children here as well. He was on council starting in 1996, a seat he won in a by-election. He served as councillor until he ran for mayor in 2002 when Ian Sutherland defeated him.
The Chief caught up with the self-described family man about why he is running now, some of the questions being thrown at him and his plans for Squamish.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: We are a few weeks into campaigning now, how is it going so far?
A: Really good. I’m really excited and getting out there meeting with different groups and community members.
Q: Why now? Why did you want to come back in at this exact time?
A: Having been born and raised in Squamish, I have always been passionate about the community. Seven or so years ago, after the last council, my son was born, my mom was sick. Family comes first; my highest priority. But I have always been passionate about Squamish and helping shape its future so I wanted to get back involved and so threw my hat in the ring.
Q: Squamish has changed so much since you were last were in council, hasn’t it? Has that changed the things the community is interested in?
A: People are people. They want good paying jobs. They want recreational opportunities. They want a roof over their heads. Issues now are somewhat different in priority, but certainly it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from, people want the same things — good-paying jobs, a strong local economy. Most people want to see Squamish as a place you can live, work and play.
Property taxes are a big issue in our community, from the young to the old. It is something that I am hearing throughout Squamish.
Q: One of the things I heard you say in another interview is that rents should be managed by the market. But then won’t we lose an entire class of people and are you OK with a Squamish that is going to be more of a resort for the wealthier?
A: Not necessarily. There are things the District can do, such as partnering up with the provincial government through BC Housing to address affordable housing. Certainly, that is something that we can do — though it does require funding. And I will never turn down funding as an elected official and leader of the community. In most cases, the free-market rents are driven by the market.
Q: Isn’t the market in Squamish already causing the problem of people not able to find staff for their businesses?
A: Yes, right. And you see the market addressing it. I have talked to several businesses where they have been renting out houses or topping up rents.
Q: The question of a slate keeps coming up for you. Are you affiliated with other candidates — meaning have you had informal meetings with a few select candidates, say at each other’s houses or anything like that?
A: I haven’t, no. There is not a slate at all. I have been trying to meet as many council candidates as possible, to be honest with you. It is important for me to build a strong team.
The community will choose the people to represent them and my goal is going to be to build that team and bring out the skill sets each individual has that can help build our community.
Q: There has been some question of where you live. I know you were born and raised here and have a house in town, but do you live in Squamish now day-to-day? Where do your children go to school?
A: I live every day in Squamish. My kids go to school in West Vancouver.
Q: Why did you make that decision for your children to go there? On Squamish council, you will have to address issues around our local public schools, such as safe routes to school planning.
A: Absolutely I will. I grew up and went to school in Squamish and am a proud Howe Sound Secondary grad. It is a personal decision. As parents, we make these decisions on what we want for our children. I will leave it at that.
Q: One of the other things being thrown at you is your relationship with the Cheema family. Did Bob Cheema ask you to run?
A: No, not at all. I haven’t talked to Bob for a long time.
Q: It has been pointed out that you were his lobbyist back in the day though, correct?
A: I helped Bob. I was never paid or received financial remuneration. At the time, I certainly felt that with the only property with a cap [wasn’t fair]. I stand up for what I believe in and I will always continue to do so. People who don’t like my stance on issues will make up fictitious stories. I stood up at that time as someone who wasn’t on the council.
Q: What are some things the current council is doing that you would like to continue? For example, the bond that has formed with the Squamish Nation?
A: I think personally the Squamish Nation is looking for some leadership. Certainly, having relationships with Squamish Nation is very important. When I was on the council under then-mayor Greg Gardner, we actually signed an accord with Squamish Nation.
The thing with carrying on legacies— a lot of these types of initiatives weren’t begun under this current council, they were initiated quite some time ago.
Q: You have been on council before, so you know the first few months are extremely busy, but what would be some of your first priorities?
A: First and foremost, because it is going to be a brand new council, I think it will be important to sit down with each individual council member and see what their desires are, what their skill sets are and really understand them. A strong leader needs to do that.
Secondly, I believe with a new council — depending how the election goes — they are going to have no local government experience at all so it is going to be important to work with the CAO and staff department heads to give an overview to each individual councillor about local government and what the departments do so they have a better understanding of the system and the organization.
Thirdly, I would like to establish a council retreat. As much as I have priorities as mayor, I also want to include the council members' priorities as well. So, we can set some goals and priorities and we will do that in the way of a retreat with staff.
Q: Where would you go on a retreat?
A: I have no idea, probably local. When I say “retreat” I am saying an off-site, focused discussion of goals and priorities.
Q: You were on council during the oceanfront sub-area plan creation, what do you think of what has happened there since then?
A: It is moving forward. There’s a new owner — [Newport Beach developer, Cornerstone] John Mathews — a really bright individual. I am looking forward to working with him and seeing that development come to fruition. They are building the road and starting on the park soon. It is moving forward, and that is a good thing. Here’s the thing, Rome wasn’t built overnight. These things take time.
Q: We hear so much about the pace of development, especially from people quite like you who were born and raised here. What else are you hearing from the community?
A: Yes, that is one of the issues. Property taxes are another issue. We have had all these increases and what have we had to show for it? I hear about a lack of recreational amenities. Jobs are important. We talked about the rental rates earlier, one of the initiatives that I want to put forward right away is an economic development committee that will be comprised of business leaders — and business leaders only.
That is going to be important because most people do not want Squamish to be a bedroom community and unfortunately half the community is currently commuting to Vancouver. From a social fabric perspective, that is not healthy. That creates less quality time with family, to volunteer, to coach and be involved with local organizations. Downtown parking and parking, in general, is an issue.
The big thing is we have seen all this growth, all this increase in taxes and we haven’t kept up with that growth with services and amenities.
Q: But how do we fix that? What do you cut? We don’t seem to have the tax base to rebuild Brennan Park, for example.
A: I think the first thing to do is address the Community Amenity Contribution agreements that we negotiate with developers.
Now that Squamish is discovered, we have a lot of investors who are the more experienced, senior type and other communities in the Lower Mainland have been able to build up nice reserve funds through investment and development.
Q: What else would you like to say here?
A: I am really looking forward to building a team. I am hearing that council has been somewhat dysfunctional with the infighting that has occurred and that is not healthy because that sets a bad precedent and doesn’t really allow you to build a good culture within an organization.
That is very important — for me to build that culture and team atmosphere. We can agree to disagree on issues, but at the end of the day we can go for a beer afterward and leave it in the council chambers.
