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Vinni brings to the table more than a decade of experience as a lawyer and professional mediator, skills he hopes will help council work as a team toward common goals.

“Some people might find this funny coming from a lawyer, but I’m not a fighter, I’m a mediator, a consensus builder,” he explains. “I want to go in with a clean slate and work as part of a cohesive group.”

Besides being a member of Fort McMurray’s business community, Vinni has been an active community leader. A graduate of the second Leadership Wood Buffalo class, Vinni also serves as chair for Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo and sits on the board of the YMCA. He facilitates Parenting After Separation seminars and volunteers his time organizing Law Day, a free event which helps the public better understand the legal system and the law.

Planning for Success: The Future of Wood Buffalo

Vinni believes that council will play an integral role in Wood Buffalo’s future by preparing for further growth of the region with a forward-looking approach. “Going forward, it’s all about planning. We need to see the big picture,” he says. “The city’s still growing, and I fully expect we’ll have another boom as explosive as the ones we’ve experienced in the past. There are a lot of projects that will go ahead putting all those familiar strains on the city, and we have to plan for that.”

The issues which affect the quality of life in Wood Buffalo should be at the top of council’s priority list, Vinni says. These include basic services like garbage, snow removal, water and sewage systems, and traffic. “I sometimes think we have all the problems of a big city and none of the benefits of a small town. An accident on the bridge can still tie up traffic for two hours. We need to continue looking for solutions to traffic issues, snow removal, parking; all these basic things that council is responsible for,” he says.

Building Networks for a Stronger Community

Many newcomers to Wood Buffalo come to the region with the intention of leaving within five years. Vinni believes that making it easier for newcomers to develop networks and support systems will encourage them to call Wood Buffalo home.

“Building networks here can be very difficult. For example, there’s a separation between people who work on-site and people who work in town. Building a network is a challenge in this town – you can’t ride on anyone’s coattails,” he says. “But there are a lot of great organizations here that people can get involved with, and council needs to be leading by example and demonstrating to people how we will continue to build community.”

Preserving and Protecting Smaller Communities

Smaller communities like Saprae Creek and Draper have their own unique character, and are at risk of being swallowed up by new developments. Vinni believes preserving and protecting the character of these small communities by making their voices heard at the council table is an important priority.

“There’s a lot of momentum to develop Highway 69 as an industrial corridor,” he explains. “We should be concerned about how this kind of development is going to affect smaller communities like Saprae Creek. I think we need to keep a buffer there to maintain the character of the community.”

The residents of Draper are at similar risk as the Saline Creek subdivision is developed. “Draper’s residents like where they live because it’s close to town, but it has all the benefits of being outside the city. There’s not a lot of traffic, it’s out in the country, they can have nice big gardens and such. What’s being proposed is going to impact those residents as much as anybody in this town and we need to have some serious consideration for that,” Vinni says.

Local Politics and Accountability

Quoting former US Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, Vinni says that ‘all politics is local’. He agrees councilors need to be accountable to the people who elected them. “People want to know that things are getting done on their street and in their town,” he says. “Municipal council needs to be in touch with the concerns of the people who live and work in their community.”

Vinni believes Wood Buffalo offers its residents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to continue building their community from the ground up. “We’ve built this place from scratch – that doesn’t happen very often. That’s why I love this place,” he says. “We need to push the message that if we all make a commitment to our community, we can build something great.”