Wayne Robutka has spent his entire life in the Crowsnest Pass and he’s seen a lot of change over that time.

Robutka has worked for the municipality since 1984 when he started off on a garbage truck and then found other jobs in public works over the years before working his way up to operations manager in 2014.

Robutka says he’s seen both positive and negative change in the Crowsnest Pass over his time here.

“We've done some good projects. We've done the downtown Blairmore project and the downtown Coleman Revitalization for starters.”

Robutka has also seen the population of the Pass fluctuate over the years and is happy to see the number of weekenders and out of town folks moving to the area recently.

“The more people we have in the area the better off we are,” said Robutka.

With some of those newcomers entering the community, Robutka says he’s also encouraged by the new subdivisions that are in the Crowsnest Pass now.

Robutka says he’d like to see some of the mines get going in the area, as he believes it will help grow the community.

“If any of the three mines get going it will be helping out the community for sure.”

Robutka says he’d like to see more money spent on trying to fix certain aspects of the community like sidewalks and just see overall improvements to the community in those aspects as well.

Robutka hasn’t only seen positives over his time in the Pass though.

“The loss of our industry really hurt us. We have to rely on people more.”

Robutka also mentioned a time where he wasn’t pleased with what happened to the fire department.

“Another negative thing I didn't like, and it's nothing against the current council we have now, but in 2012 when management and council decided to force the volunteers of the fire department out. That was something I wasn't happy with. I was there for 32 years. They just didn't work with the fire department to make it better they made it worse. I work with the fire department we have here now and I have no problem with the guys here. It was just that time.”

He also mentioned a previous event that was held in the community for many years.

“The loss of Thunder in the Valley really hurt the community because we used to have around 20,000-30,000 people here that weekend.”

Overall, Robutka is pleased with where the Crowsnest Pass is headed and says that his time working for the municipality was positive and that anyone who ends up with a position in the municipality should be pleased.

“People should be happy if they get a job with the municipality because it's a good job in all aspects.”

As for what Robutka has planned now, he’ll take some time off before beginning his next chapter.

“I'm helping out the municipality right now until they get someone in place. I'm going to go to Mexico for a month and a bit and then I'm going to start my own little consulting company so that if anyone needs my help here I will work with them. This is a really beautiful community and I hope in the future it continues to be a better place for people to come to.”

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