Mayor Richard Ireland said, in light of that, the deadline will be extended in future years to allow the community more time to write nomination letters.
The municipal volunteers recognized this year were Sheila Couture, Sandra Coombe, Monika Schaefer, Doug Charlebois, Amy Wilcox, Scott Moir, Cindy Anderson, Andrew Verigin, Dave Yachyshen and Claudine Luisier.
Before receiving recognition of his own, Ireland “cast a warm and revealing light” of appreciation on all of the volunteers in the room.
“[Jasper’s] volunteers make us more literate, more educated, more artistic, more cultured, more active, healthier, safer, more engaged, more communal. They make our community more visible, more friendly, more welcoming, more productive, more united, more green, more sustainable, more beautiful,” he said.
And, if you do the math, as Ireland did, they also keep the community’s taxes down by doing work that would otherwise cost the municipality millions of dollars.
“I’m not here to fear monger,” said Ireland, arousing laughter from the crowd, “I’m just telling you if we didn’t have volunteers and all that they do to enrich and improve the quality of our life—to get those services—our taxes would have to double.
“So look across at a volunteer at your table and say thanks for keeping my taxes down, thanks for working for my community.”
