Dec. 1 marked the first day in office for the newly elected mayor of Waterloo, Dave Jaworsky.
His inauguration took place on the evening of Dec. 1, along with the members of council.
The next morning, Jaworsky said he was ready to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. He wore his tie from INSEAD, a graduate business school, to commemorate the plans he has for the city regarding economic development and business planning.
“I bring business skills to the mayor’s office and I am ready to put those to good use,” he said.
Jaworsky graduated from the University of Waterloo 26 years ago and since has remained a resident of the city of Waterloo where he developed a life and family.
Upon graduating UW, Jaworsky worked at IBM and later transferred to Research in Motion — previously called Blackberry — where he worked for 12.5 years as the senior director for the global corporate social responsibility team.
He believes this provided him with the opportunity to work as a leader for a global team that focused on community relations, philanthropy, the environment, accessibility, university relations and government relations.
Jaworsky expressed his excitement to now help Waterloo remain prosperous and vibrant.
He plans to work with the council team, the city staff and the citizens in order to ensure the city is fulfilling its goal of being the best it can be.
“I am really excited to work with all of those so we can come to a common vision and figure out how we are going to grow to be the best small city there is,” said Jaworsky
Jaworsky explained his core plan while in office involves economic development.
He hopes to foster a flourishing economy through job creation and by attracting companies to expand and remain in the city.
“It is key for everybody to get their first start, their first job in our city,” Jaworsky explained.
With three post-secondary institutions in the city — Wilfrid Laurier University, UW and Conestoga College — there is a large population of graduates each year.
In order to ensure these graduates remain in the city and the city becomes prosperous, there is a need for job creation.
“We need to make sure there are jobs here so they stay here and make their family life here,” said Jaworsky.
In order to accomplish this, Jaworsky plans to work with the Chamber of Commerce and Communitech. He also noted that there are a number of entrepreneurship organizations at Laurier and UW.
“We need to make sure the city is in tune with what the small business needs, what high tech needs and what the startup community needs, so we can ensure that those businesses stay here once they are successful,” said Jaworsky.
Jaworsky also said the city is planning to change the urban design. This includes improvements within Waterloo Park as well as more programming within Uptown Square.
He also wants to focus on helping integrate students into the city, as opposed to solely remaining in the student neighbourhoods around the universities and college.
“We really need to make sure our universities are not cities within a city … getting everybody to understand each other and participate together — that is the key,” Jaworksy concluded.
