Once again it is my privilege to report on the activities of our corporation for the year 2000. In an over all sense, this has been a very successful year. We began 2000 with a strong plan to deal with the unknown of Y2K. It too passed with little or no disruptions to our system.
As you will see from the following annual report, this has been a very busy year. Growth has continued both in terms of population and assessment. One of the major accomplishments was the hard work on our large annexation application. Three full days were established for the hearings, but the culmination of the hard work resulted in the closing of the public hearings in under one hour.
Continued pressure to expand infrastructure and balance the debt load proved to be challenging. Major projects were the order of the day:
• Expanded sewage treatment facilities
• Two new Fire Halls
• The purchase of an existing building to serve as City Hall
• The construction of an indoor soccer pitch
• The Community Knowledge Campus became more of a reality with the land purchase and the construction of
phase one, the Catholic High School
• Centre 2000, a Tourism and Business Development Centre began construction
• The twinning of the 84th Avenue bridge
• The continuation of the twinning of Resources Road
• The addition of Fire Fighters in anticipation of the new Fire Halls opening in 2001
• Planning for the expansion of our current RCMP facilities into the old Fire Hall
From an overall corporate administrative perspective, our drive towards providing a higher level of customer service was emphasized. In addition, our work force was challenged to "DO DIFFERENT, NOT MORE". The belief is that if we rethink our work, empower our most important resource, service will go up and costs will decrease or not increase to the same extent as the growth demands might otherwise dictate.
We ended the year with another surplus but, most importantly, a large host of very successful outcomes as we worked towards completing City Council's Strategic Plan. My sincere thanks must go to our well trained and dedicated staff members. It has been a pleasure to serve this community for the past year.
CITY CLERK
The City Clerk's Department completed several project initiatives throughout the year. A census was carried out which identified that the City's population increased from 31,140 in 1996 to 35,962 in 2000. A By-election was conducted to fill a vacancy in the Office of Alderman and Catholic School Trustee. The Department also continued its involvement on the South Peace Regional Archives project in partnership with the Grande Prairie Museum.
The Department participated in review and implementation of customer service improvements for the 3rd Floor of City Hall; a new Blue Page Telephone Directory was created and policies continue to be reviewed, updated and posted to the City's website.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In the year 2000, Economic Development Grande Prairie promoted the City as the Leading Northwestern Centre for the North with a great deal of success.
Economic Development hosted the Economic Developers of Alberta Spring 2000 Conference and "Explore SMART Growth Ensuring the ALBERTA Advantage" proved to be an excellent theme for this very successful Conference. From the beginning of the planning process the difference in the Conference was the people. The partners and sponsors of our Conference demonstrated that this little City can capture the focus of the entire Province.
Other promotional efforts included further development of the City's web pages and portfolio package, ensuring current information readily available; new product development including the pencil print design used for advertising campaigns and on City products such as mouse pads; and participation and support in numerous Trade Shows, Parades, & Recruitment Fairs held throughout the Province.
In 2000, Economic Development was also tasked with marketing "Active Marketable" lands for the City and achieved a $1 Million mark in land sales.
The new millennium will lead this Northwestern Centre to many more years of excellent growth and development.
HUMAN RESOURCES 
By enabling others to act, modelling the way and encouraging the heart, the Human Resource Team continued to play an important role as a strategic partner with members of the Corporate Leadership Team in the year 2000.
The HR Team co-championed the Customer First Service initiative whereby we have started a shift in Corporate Culture that challenges staff to find different and innovative ways of performing work. The desired outcome of this initiative is to increase or maintain levels
of customer service at decreased costs. Successful results of this ongoing priority initiative can be viewed in the City's innovation scrapbook.
The Compensation Review Team led a review of the compensation system for out-of-scope staff. Recommendations were approved by Council to phase in changes to the compensation system in order to ensure salaries are competitive and that the City is able to attract and retain high quality employees.
The HR Team developed and implemented a format and process for conducting both individual and HR Team performance reviews. The result was an effective performance management system that ensured continuous improvement and customer first service in the human resource area.
Members of the team are committed to continual learning and are actively pursuing a Certificate in Conflict Management through GPRC. This training has provided skills for the HR Team members to facilitate conflict situations within the organization, therefore saving money on the use of outside resources.