Profile
Councillor Mary Wile was elected to represent District 10 Clayton Park West, in October 2004.
Mary Wile was born and educated in Halifax. She and her husband Gerry have resided in the Clayton Park area for 38 years, where they have raised and educated their two sons, Scott and Leigh.
A business graduate of Mount Saint Vincent University, Mary has successfully combined family responsibilities with a career as a business education teacher, career counselor and owner of a service business. She has also worked in the fields of medicine, law, radio and television, economics and project management. Her early career also included performing as a Buchta Dancer on Don Messer’s Jubilee. Currently, Mary is totally committed to being a full time city Councillor.
In addition to a busy professional career and family life, Mary has been a dedicated community volunteer over the years. Mary and her husband were actively involved with the committee that successfully raised money to reinstate the Halifax West High football team. Mary has also held volunteer positions as: an executive member of the Board of Halifax Dance, Regional Director for the Nova Scotia Senior Games, Chairperson of City of Halifax Advisory Committee on Concerns of Aging, Director on the Boards of Spencer House and Halifax Seniors Council and a member of the Provincial Task Force on Drug Sampling. Mary is also a champion ballroom dancer and curler, and has represented Nova Scotia in the Canadian Mixed Curling Championships. Councillor Wile was actively involved in the area of curlling serving as Director of Ceremonies for the Scott Tournament of Hearts and the Canadian Men's Brier and served on various other National and Provincial curling championships.
As a Councillor, Mary attaches a high priority to regional planning. Of particular interest is Clayton Park West's planning and development requirements. Current priority issues for Councillor Wile are affordable residential and retirement housing, recreational facilities for youth and seniors and planning for environmentally sustainable development.
Contact Information
You can contact Councillor Wile at the Councillors' Support Office, or by any of the following means:
Mail:
Councillor Mary Wile
PO Box 1749
Halifax, NS
B3J 3A5
Work:
(902)490-7028
Cell:
(902)476-2048
Fax:
(902)490-5487
Email:
wilema[at]halifax.ca
Did you know?
Since I have had several bus shelters vandalized in my district, I thought I would post the response from Metro Transit staff on bus shelter vandalism.
There has been a rash of shelter vandalism lately. It traditionally does seem to occur in summer when the weather becomes warmer and more people are out and about late at night. This type of vandalism is very difficult to catch people in the act of, as it is so random and normally carried out when nobody else is around.
Metro Transit/HRM currently has a contract with CBS Outdoor Advertising for the right to situate their own shelters with advertising panels at our stops in return for the responsibility of all bus shelter maintenance and repair. Therefore, there is no direct cost to tax payers, although repeated damage could lead to the shelter being permanently removed from a location, resulting in an inconvenience to passengers.
Each broken glass panel costs approximately $350.00 to replace. Since April 2010 there have been 106 bus shelters vandalized, for a total of $37,100. We have tested using other types of bus shelters over the years, including concrete and fibreglass, however, these were proven to be undesirable in that they were dark at night, Operators could not easily see into them and they posed other comfort, safety and hygiene issues. Tempered glass has proven to be the most ideal,, as long as someone doesn't deliberately set out to break it.
Metro Transit has worked with our contractor, CBS Outdoor, to post anti-vandal messages in the shelters in the past...posters which read " Graffiti and Vandalism ..not in our streets...only you can help" and decals which still should be present in many shelters which reads "Vandalizing bus shelters is a crime....regular monitoring is in effect".
In addition, we partner with Crimestoppers on a generic campaign every year and we have also worked with the Restorative Justice program in the Schools to have offenders prepare speeches on the consequences and cost of their actions. Sometimes they have even been made to pay for the damages.
Municipal Operations Update
HRM's Municipal operations invested in a concrete grinding implement designed to address raised sidewalk slabs. This piece of equipment is mounted on a Trackless municipal tractor ( these are the machines used to plow sidewalks)
As a result we have in the past 6 months ground 680 slab joints. In the past staff would make temporary repairs with asphalt to mitigate liability until Capital funds were found to replace these slabs. Grinding is considered a permanent repair.
At a cost of 250.00 per slab replacement, the potential savings is 170k. When you also take into account that when replacing a slab there is often a risk that the two adjacent slabs can be broken the potential savings is greater.
Twelve districts have received this work, with districts 11 and 13 receiving the bulk of the grinding. Other districts will be addressed within the next 7 months. These districts had the greatest density and therefore the greatest liability.
HRM will be patrolling their regions identifying slabs that can be potentially ground. This will feed the daily operational work of the grinder. Slab condition dictates whether the grinding method can be applied. For slabs that cannot be ground staff will mark them with white paint, and make temporary asphalt repairs until a permanent replacement can be undertaken.
District 10 Discretionary & District Capital Fund Expenditures Summary - 2009/10
Under the Municipal Government Act, Council is permitted to approve funds which are dispersed by the District Councillor according to a Council Approved Policy. At the beginning of the fiscal year, each member of Regional Council is allocated $3,000 in Discretionary Funds and $65,000 in Capital Funds.
The Discretionary Funds are for use in the District and is dispersed at the District Councillor’s discretion in accordance with the approved policy. These funds are for supporting local recreational and educational activities. Donations are made to not-for-profit groups and cannot be made to individuals.
The District Capital Funds is a centralized program that provides partial or full funding to HRM capital projects or community non-profit groups at the discretion of the District Councillor and in accordance with the approved policy. These funds are for physical amenities including, but not limited to, playgrounds, parks and community beautification.
The District 10 Discretionary Funds were dispersed to the following groups:
Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada
Pomorze Polish Folkdance Ensemble
U17 NS Provincial Boys’ Basketball Team
Children’s Bridge Foundation
Heart & Stroke Foundation of NS
U18 NS Volleyball Team
Park West School PTA
The Korean Veterans Association of Canada
Metro Non-Profit Housing Association
CMHA Halifax Walk for Suicide Prevention
Camp Courage
Diocese of NS & PEI
Community Action on Homelessness
The Halifax Hawks Pee Wee AAA Team
Halifax Mainland North Volunteer Committee
Revolutin DGH
Adsum for Women & Children
Canadian Cancer Society
The District 10 Capital Funds were dispersed to the following projects:
Mainland Commons - signage
Stratford Way Park - improvements
Do The Right Thing - Anti-bullying video
Belcher’s Pond - purchase of bench
Dunbrack Street - rose bushes
Maskwa Aquatic Club - upgrades to facility
Stratford Way Park - machinery work for improvements
Park West School Project - pathway improvements
Stratford Way Gardens - flower beds, pergola, bocci court, paths & shrubs
Scouts Camp - facility improvements
Boards & Committees
In addition to sitting on Halifax Regional Council and Chebucto Community Council, Councillor Wile currently serves as a member of the following boards and committees:
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