Mayor optimistic for 2026

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Reflecting on 2025, Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule described several major accomplishments which council was able to be a part of and set in motion throughout the year.

“Every council does a strategic plan very early in its four-year term. We are about to do one for this new council, about the third week of January, and we will be doing a retreat here in town,” said Fule. “We have gone away from going out of town for things like retreats because they are expensive and I have been pushing for many years that retreats should be done in town. You get to stay in your own house, but also any money that is spent on a retreat … is all being spent on local businesses.”

Throughout the course of the year, he explained he feels council was successful in meeting their strategic visions and making improvements for the local community.

The first point to this effect he emphasized surrounded community wellness, particularly regarding the town’s efforts to bring in local practicing physicians and to acquire a CT scanner for the Strathmore Hospital.

“We have this group of doctors who are willing to come here and put in a CT scanner and pay for the operations as well as the cost of it, so we are really excited about that,” he said. “One of the things that we really achieved was, I had heard for quite some months that we were into a real doctor shortage, and we did have a doctor come to us to tell us that we are in a crisis situation with doctors. I went out of my way to be available to meet with young doctors who were interested in Strathmore.”

Regarding community services, Fule put a particular emphasis on water use, conservation, and the future of operations in Strathmore.

The town is currently in the process of decommissioning the Brentwood Reservoir which has been experiencing leakage problems and is at the end of its serviceable lifespan.

As part of that process, the town has had to implement a larger waterline pipe under Maplewood Drive to transport water.

“When we do have a new water reservoir, it will be able to fill that reservoir in a much more timely fashion and it will be a better part of the system,” said Fule. “We did shut down Maplewood Drive for some time. While we were doing that main water line, we also decided that we would do some traffic calming. That was a little controversial – some people were upset about it – but the whole design philosophy of Maplewood Drive was traffic calming and we have had some good results.”

He added council continues to work with the town’s planning and development team to address housing availability, rental, and purchase prices.

The aim is to make local housing more affordable as well as increase availability. Among these efforts is the multi-unit housing project nearing completion on Centennial Avenue.

“We have approved and we have four subdivisions right now in different stages of development and that is going to add to inventory,” he said.

Going into 2026, Fule explained he is optimistic with the council who has been elected to serve for this ongoing term.

“It is people from all walks of life, very professional … they have high integrity, they are very professional in how they deal with each other and how we interact with each other and it has been a very smooth beginning,” he said. “I believe it is going to be a really high level of integrity and professionalism as we work together, and part of that working together, looking into the future. We are going to be doing a vision retreat in the third week of January. That is going to go a long way to plot the course for the four-year term.”