So I just want to make sure, um, Kim, do we have your permission to record interaction?

Yes

Awesome. Okay. So, um, do you want to start with the question? ?

We, we thought of this right before, um, our first question. It is a, it's a really building, uh,
building question. Uh, is, do you enjoy your job ?

Love my job.

Love your job.

Love my job. I get to work with people all the time, whether it's, like I said, internally or
externally. . Love it. So…

and you kind of answered it already without the reporting honestly, but why do you love your
job?

Uh, it just, um, I have kids mm-hmm. . So my, my goal is to keep my kids here in the
community. So anything I can do to help support that and keep the economy growing and
keep my kids here, I'm willing to keep it interesting.

Yes.

This like your main… passion, you know, like…

it is, it's, it is definitely a passion. Yes.

Right

That what makes the job interesting. Yeah. Why, why, you go to everybody….

and I love people, so.

Exactly.

I love people. Always have. So

it is very nice. So, uh, I'll ask like, how do a normal day for you is in here? Like, what do you do
when you get into the office?
So the nice thing about my job too, which keeps me motivated, is every day is different,

right

I never know what I'm going to walk into, so, And that's, I think also what helps motivate me
too. So, um, every, every day I open up my email, I have no idea what I'm gonna be to come
up against. I mean, there are some routine things that are routine because in government
there are rules and regulations that you need to follow, but every day is different. So, and
that's the nice thing. So everything's changing constantly. And then you have to pivot, like I
was talking about earlier. Mm-hmm. and being, having that, that, um, willingness to change
is very, I think, essential and important to have in this, in my role.

Yeah. it's not like routine work

Yeah. It's definitely not the notness here. Yeah. It's very exciting.

It's, it's not like joining the rat race.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. Yeah.

I was gonna ask like, uh, how many people do you work with? Like, I know you work with like,
basically everyone, but like how many people are, are you really like talking to every day? This
is very big.

So internally in my office, mm-hmm. for the last year, it's been a struggle. Mm-hmm. , So
we've had really low capacity. So it's just been me and a director.

Okay. Wow.

So we like all the businesses, so I can appreciate the businesses when they call me because we
also have been struggling with the capacity internally, so it's been myself as the only full-time
member and a director. I've been without a manager for a year.

That's crazy.

Are you like your own manager at this point?

I literally, I was like, literally I was, so we just hired a manager. Literally, he started, uh, I
think he's been here a week. Oh my God. So, And for the other side, Because you have special
events and we have myself so. The other manager has been here two and a half months or
three months for the special event side cuz the other manager retired. And then everybody
else in our team is all contract workers. Okay.
So they're all brought in.

They've been brought in. So the other special event coordinator, she's coming back from mat
leave after a year.

Mm-hmm. .

So we are almost out to a full team again. Nice. Which is so nice. So yeah, so internally we're
up to a full team, so, which is lovely again, so. It's been a lot of pivoting for the last year. So
internally, yes. Uh, also for internal stakeholders, like some of the people downstairs
mentioned, I work with almost every single department internally. . Which for me, again, is a
blessing cuz I love people. Uh, for the filming side, we have to touch every department. So
fire, police, business, licensing, um, Marketing cuz sometimes if it's, uh, and I don't know if
you will follow our social media, but if you do, if it's, uh, in a public property, like say High
Street, we have filming at High Street, we have to let the public know just because it could
influence how you travel that day, or you're shopping. So we have to, we have to let the
public know, right? So I get to work with a lot of our, of our internal people here externally.
We also have. key stakeholders in our community. So the Abbotsford Downtown Business
Association, if we have filming down there. they are one of our key stakeholders. Clay and
Village. We have a society down there, so if there's filming there, we deal there. Mount
Lehman, they have a little society there, so if there's filming there, we deal with that Society,
Bradner community, we deal with them if they have filming in there, so we have to make sure
that they're all happy with their filming. uh, highways. Of course, if there's a highway closure,
we deal with the highways, Department. Transit. We might have to reroute a bus. The school
district, we deal with them closely. Also with our Edge Factor program, we, we're dealing
with them cuz it goes out to all the teachers and affects their programming as well. Uh, I'm
trying to think who else. The Chamber of Commerce, cuz the Chamber of Commerce also deals
with our businesses in our community. Um, no, I'm missing people here. Oh, University of
Fraser Valley. Of course. So we actually have some filming there, and we also have some
stakeholders that we deal with them for different, various issues. And we have over the years
too. Um, they were actually quite incremental. We got ICF top seven c. . So they helped us a
lot, and we actually used the student union building in order to facilitate a lot of our, um, key,
uh, stakeholder conversations

Right.

In order to get that award in the end. So who else, I mean, it's.

it's a big job.

It's almost everybody. And I mean, the public at large

Yeah, exactly.
Because we, every film that we do, depending on who and where we're filming, we send-out
notifications to the stakeholders. So if the filming was near your house, you would also get a
stakeholder notification, and if you weren't happy with the filming, you would let me know.
So basically I deal with everybody. . It's probably, it's probably the, the answer in a nutshell.

So you don't deal with nobody or that, that just makes sense. There's nobody you don't deal
with.

Exactly.

Really?

Yeah, and I'm happy to speak to anybody. So, um, we also, on the business retention, We get
entrepreneurs that come in who are interested in just starting up a business. So, and then we
would run through, how do I start a business? So I had a lady who was interested in starting a
yoga business and sat down, walked her through the whole, what that we have of the
package, and three months later she started a yoga business on product. So that was very
exciting.

So I was surprised when I was looking at the website. Everything that you do, because it's like
film, tourist, business, There are so many things that you do. Which one is your favourite?

If I, if I had to say what was my favourite, it would be a successful business owner opening up
a, a business, right?

Yeah. So yeah.

From start to finish.

So it's rewarding, Yeah. Helping people to grow their…

right. So I, I don't know if you guys have been to the bistro in Mahogany Tower. Um, I don't
know specifically, okay. So he came to us years ago with a dream, a pipe dream of opening
this restaurant. And he's actually worked with my daughter at Cactus at one point. Um, and
he now he owns that restaurant, The Palm. Have you guys been to the Palm High Street? The
c the coffee shop? My daughter worked with her as well, and she opened up a little, tiny
trailer. She started with food. And now she opened, she's opened up her own independent
store. So those are two that are like huge, like just makes me so happy inside. So it just
warms my heart. So like seeing a business owner be successful. Cause my husband and I also
were business owners. So be seeing somebody else be successful at some at self-employed
business is just huge and just forms my heart, so.

Right.
Yeah, that's great. And I try to help people not fail. And be more successful than what we did.
So don't do the mistakes that we did, you know, And so, you know, make sure you file G GST
on time. Don't get penalties, like, you know, just different little hurdles. Right.

So all them through the right path.

Yeah. Right.

So you have a business?

Yes.

Can we ask what it is?

Uh, mobile equipment training.

Okay.

Yeah. So boom trucks. Forklifts. So my husband does training for those, so. . Yeah. So we
wrote our own books and copy written them, and then he goes out and does the training for
that. So

you're definitely are in everything

Yeah, he's, He's everything. Yeah.

You said like, I wanna do this career, like everything. How did you finish working here? Yeah.

How did I start?

How did you start like from university?

This is, this isn't what I went in for initially, so my original pipe dream, I was gonna be an
accountant. So I got my bookkeeping in accounting first, thinking that I was gonna go and be
a become the CGA. And then when I did my practicum and sat in an office all day, I was like,
Oh

this is not for me.

This is not for me. I can't sit in the back. I still do all the taxes for everybody. Because I like
numbers.

So you know, you know it too.

I love numbers, but I'm like, that's not for me. So then I took my real estate. And then the
market crashed. Oh. And I was like, Nope, not for me either. . So then I was like, What am I
gonna do? So then I went up to, I met my husband. Mm-hmm. , and I was a city girl and I
moved up to Prince George. I went to University of Northern British Columbia. Amazing
university. Just saying like, the campus is absolutely gorgeous, and you can get any classes
you want. Oh. Um, so went up there and took economics. Cause again, it was still math and
business. Back then it was called Commerce. It wasn't called a business degree. It was called
Commerce back in my day. Um, so yeah, took that and then started my family. And had three
kids. So then when I, when we were doing our kids, working for our uncle at the same
business that now we have. Uh, I was like, took time off work. Then I was like, What are we
gonna do? And I was like, I'm gonna work at the city. It was either the city or the school
district. So initially, when I came in here, I worked as an auxiliary clerk in the administration
office. Oh. Then I worked in legislative services for six years. And then I moved into economic
development. So we actually didn't have an economic development department always at
the city. It was like planning combined with economic development. Mm-hmm. . And then we
had a new director. She changed things up. Two people actually left the position and I moved
into the position. So it was, this is an opportunity and I saw the opportunity and I, and I took
it.

Awesome.

Yeah. And it was perfect. It's just like the perfect match for me.

So I. So what are the qualifications for this?

So for here, um, economic development, they want the ECD, so they're the ECD courses
through University of Waterloo, actually. So I took the University of Waterloo course, so
yeah.

How long was it?

It's two years. Okay. In addition, yeah. Yeah.

And how long have you been at six...?

I've been here almost 15 years now.

you seem very passionate about your job, you know? Yeah. It's very nice.

Like, it, it loves it.

So you have your kids and also so a part of inspiration of your daily job.
Yep. .

Oh, they're, they're very cute, right?

They are, They are my inspiration.

So if you could just, something on the city to make it better for your kids. What will you do?

My kids have actually worked at the city. Oh, wow. Yep. Yeah, so sorry.

But if it was something that depend on you, like in your,

That I could make better for the city and for them and for them in the city.

in Abbotsford.

If I had a if I could. make housing more affordable. But I have no,

I have no, absolutely no control of that. My kids are gonna be living with me forever.

Oh, my. Yeah.

Like they all still live with me. Um, that, yeah, I wish that everybody could afford a house.
Like, like affordability.

Yeah.

That I don't, I have no control over that, unfortunately. Um, if I could, Yeah. That everybody
has a house. Like I, I wish that everybody was homed. There was no homelessness. . I mean,
that's outside my department. We do have a department that is helping with that. Um, but
yeah, like all of them, I want to see them more successful than me.
Of course. That's my goal. And I said, If I can make them more successful than me, then I've
done my job. And, and for you as well. I wish that for all of you. Um, but yeah, that would be
my dream, that everything's affordable in our city and continues to be affordable and that
everybody's homed and our rental. Vacancy rate increases so that everybody has
accommodations in some... form.

Absolutely. Cause at this point, like it's almost as if how, uh, housing is like a family thing where
you just pass down. So Yeah, it's trying to get,

Yeah, my kids are still at home,

so with me and my 22-year-old sister, I'm not sure how old are they?

27, 23, and 21.

Wait, that's the most, it makes the most sense at the moment. There's like nothing.

And they all work also in....

they, they are all working. They're all in school. So they've done university, not done
university. Gone back to university. I should have listened to mom. So my eldest is actually in
his last year of electrical now, cuz that's, he's decided UFV wasn't for him. Mm-hmm. . Um,
my daughter was in university, decided university wasn't heard back at university. Taking.
And hr, and my youngest is taking political science with languages.

Wow. Yeah.

He wants to be the prime minister of Canada, so that's his aspiration. So we'll see. We'll see
where he goes.

So good. Yeah. Yeah.

It's very diverse.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. They're all different.

Yeah. Um, I didn't write any question questions. Okay.

Then I'll continue like.

Sure.

I want to ask, what is the weirdest project you have worked in?

The, the, the weirdest? More Yeah. That I've worked on,

Or that was not common from your daily basis?

Hmm. I don't know if I've had a weird one here. Everything's been interesting. Like I have had
some very cool projects over, Um hmm. , that's, that's a tough one. Huh. I dunno. I had a
weird one.

So everything has been, everything's been good.

It's all been unique.

They've all been unique and all been like on, like, all been something to do with government.
So. Right. Like cuz when I worked in, um, city clerk's office, uh, they were all like government.
Very politically based, probably the coolest. I guess maybe the weirdest one would be going
through the old archives. So if you go through the old archives, everything is handwritten. So
of course we amalgamated in all the municipalities amalgamated. And if you go through the
old archives, um, there were some interesting things that we've discovered. So like people at
one point were paid for like Beaver p. Okay. To the city. So that would be maybe kind of a
weird thing. Yes. So, but it's, it's very like you have to like wear gloves to like to go through
some of the pages. It's very, So maybe that's a weird one. But that was cool cuz it's still like
government and official, and we were looking for an old bylaw so that's why we were all
going through page by page cuz it's, No,

I was just going to ask why.

Yeah. So we were looking for an old biologic to see it. Had it ever been rescinded? When I
worked in the clerk's office. Because we couldn't find it, cuz until we went to the digital, and
some things still aren't digital cuz they're old. Um, yeah, that's

Do you ever work in digitizing those, those things?

Yeah, so we do have, it's called Cedar now, so that's our digital, But there are some things
that still aren't

Right. Yeah.

On our digital side. So there's still working on that hard.

It'd be hard to tackle it all.

But that was a project when I was in city clerk's office to move things over, like all the council
reports and um, Over to that. So that was one of my responsibilities when I worked on that
side of things. So yeah, so that was probably some, We found some neat things way back
when, like Widow Myers or something, you know, like I'm just making up a name, but you
know, lost somebody, and they would give her like a little stiffened or something and like
something that you wouldn't do nowadays. Right, right.

So it was kind of, it was, it was probably really, yeah, really interesting.

Yeah. Interesting things. Cause it was just a small, smaller community back then. So yeah.

and the project you have liked the most

probably the, the most recent one would probably, I'd have to say the passport to patio. It is
that, because it was probably the most engaging and most rewarding because we were
helping businesses, you're helping everyone. The citizens and the citizens that came in and
got their prizes, they, they, even the feedback that we got from them saying that, that was
the coolest project ever. So just to get that feedback face to face, especially during like a
pandemic and people, you know, you're still wearing masks, and they're getting a reward,
and they're like, We didn't even know this place existed and we, GIS mapped all the prizes
too, so people would know where to go to get it. And so, like that for me, that was probably
the most rewarding. And then to get a prize out of it too from feedback. So,

And also the idea of getting like the passport. Yeah. It's so nice.

Yeah. So I still have all the posters and stuff, even though we're not doing it this year. So this
year we did geocaching, so.

Oh, okay.

So I don't know if you've seen that the Geo cashes are out there. So look at us going on. So.
So if you're into geocaching, there's a geocaching event that we had a big, huge event where
I think like if I go in my emails, I can show you the log. It's like, it's absolutely the insane, We
haven't even having time to go through all the logs yet. It's like in, It actually freezes my
system.

Oh my gosh.

12,000 logs to the Geo. So it started coming into. Because we have an EC dev inbox, and we
have a real inbox, and we're like, Why are we getting so many emails? And it was from all the
logs from the Geo cash. So I can't, I can't show you where they are cause you have to find 'em
yourselves. Okay. make an account and go in. So yeah. Super cool.

So who's, I like the project. Yeah, it's very interesting. Very new. Yeah. Old-fashioned, new way.

And then we did a, we did a Christmas campaign too, which was fun. One year too. I'll show
you. I've got a couple pictures on my phone. So again, this was, it wasn't during covid, but
um, just to draw, um, attention to some of the businesses and get people to shop local. We
had, um, one of our managers dress up as Santa Claus, and so he went around to some of the
stores and then we, we just drove traffic. , like, Oh yeah. The local stores and just tried to
encourage people to shop local versus, you know, going to like Vancouver, right? Or
somewhere else, like Metro town shop in Abbotsford. Like, we have everything here. You
don't need to go anywhere else. Everything is available local. And just, you know, had Santa
spotting around different shops. And so Santa would be at like the flower shop, getting
flowers, and he'd have a list. So Santa had a list to check off. So like flowers for Mrs. Claw or
you know. Getting ballet slippers for Susan or something like, you know, from Jasmine ta. So
we just did little things like that. So we, we've done some really cool campaigns. And then of
course we always go with, like I said, we deal a lot with ABA, Historic downtown Abbotsford,
and then we like to repost stuff for them too. So little campaigns with them as well. So, yeah,
so that was kind of fun as well. So yeah, we have lots of fun campaigns in our office.
I really like it. It's. It just makes you play and also learn from the city.

Yeah, and, and I mean, the digital crew make us look good too. Like this is, this is, this is them
making us look good. So I can't take credit for that. I would draw, take figures and make it
look really bad. So that's them making us look good. So all the credit goes to them, so that's
very nice. . Do you guys wanna see any, like the site finder pages or,

Sure. Yeah, show us.

Look at it like show you. Cause if you guys ever need any, um, demographic information or
anything for any of your courses, I know you guys are doing digital and stuff, but so like this is
the first tab, so this is just the one. Like if you were. Somebody looking to find a site. So that's
where you would go, Realtors update it in real time, so, Okay. And you can dial it down to like
the size of the property. Okay. And it would just, I'll, I'll show you it, but you probably
wouldn't use it for your purposes unless you actually needed it. But it's cool because then it
shows you vacant land industrial property, which very low supply in Abbotsford, but it, and it
shows you exactly where they are. So you could like to drill it in, and it'll tell you exactly as
you guys probably know that's downtown, but, and it'll tell you how much it is, what's the
square footage? And unfortunately cuz my contact information, but, so everybody calls me.
This is that compare tab. So if you wanted to compare communities, you can compare the
communities. What do you wanna do? So then you can just,

Oh, wow.

See the, the difference. So say if you wanted a management job, and you were looking, it
shows you, so if you were looking, you're like, Where do I wanna? You wanna set up here? ,
set up with Kim. But it just shows you like even finance, right? So, I mean, when we do, when
we were doing council reports or when we were presenting to council, they loved this because
it just, it stood out to them, right? Like, wow. And then it also, you can do like employees and
like, you know, education. I mean, this is at, this is Chilliwack. I mean, you can, you can do like
three, four if you want and just compare, you know, across communities. Okay. And this is
like my little cheat sheet that I was talking about, the key little community profile. So it just
gives you like real time data. So you, if you went to like BC stats, it probably would have like a
little bit lower number. It'd probably say like 1 57 right now. And then male versus female.
Usually we're a little bit ahead than the guys, but right now the guys. Beating us out a little
bit, and then it gives you an average age. So this kind of fluctuates back and forth sometimes
between, I, I, I'm 21, so forever, so I fall under the 21 category. I stop somehow. But yeah, so
to let you know that that's the average age right now is 30 to 39. There's the education level.
So the average is high school education here in Abbotsford okay, that's our labour force pool.
So 88,000. And then the top occupations, this is always high for us, is the retail sector. So, and
then it just kind of breaks it down again, healthcare, and that's because of our regional
hospital. So that again, is a huge draw for us too, is that hospital. So the airport and the
hospital are huge employers for us. So that's a nice cheat sheet, and you can, you can just like
download one little area too. So say if you just needed, like, you wanted to just pull that
graphic out for something that, a little report, you can just download that, or you can PDF it
out and anything, any of those things can just be PDFed out. I don't know. Did you visit the
filming page?

Uh, a bit. I first mostly the YouTube page when I watched some of the business that you work
with. That was very cool.

So if you had any time, we have the self-guided tour as well, so this is kind of like a piggyback
off of the site finder tool. Again, built out on the same platform. And it just shows filming
companies and the public where the most popular sites are in Abbotsford for filming. And it
all, it just helps our internal and external stake stakeholders know where the key areas are in
Abbotsford for filming. And it also helps our businesses know that we appreciate the time
that they've spent, too. That's good, but up with the filming too, cuz filming can be intrusive
too on the businesses as well. So this helps them. And it also draws filming to actually go back
to the businesses too and say, Hey, you know, we noticed like the Christmas malt was filmed,
are you open to filming again? So it just is kind of neat, and you can go through these at your
own, but we've built a few tours out on that page, so you can see by location and the
courthouse, unfortunately, like I told you guys down, We have lost temporarily. Trade X is
also open to filming too, so they, And you can break it out too. And of course that's an
amazing location because all the filming crews can just park right on site, and then we don't
have to worry about the impact there. So, and then we've broken down all the filming by
steps. All of our applications are now online too, so they automatically submit to us. They just
fill out a form, so they don't have to do paper submissions anymore. So we've built our web.
What the help of, again, our wonderful team down the hall.
301 film days, 252 locations with 3.8 million economic impact to the city. So right now we had
a strike for three months. I'm at 1.6 million with 54 productions, and I have, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
8, 9, 10, 11, 12 outstanding rap sheets still.

So how do you do it? Like you have so many things ...

very, very organized. So I use my Outlook calendar like math, like I am pretty anal with what
I'm doing. Like today, I knew I had this, but like, so this is how I am. Like I have to, everything
in it. Like constantly like following up on what I'm doing because if I don't write it, And check
back.

You'll forget it.

I'll forget. So, And like carry forwards and, Yeah. Or else, And that's why I have the
whiteboard too, so that I know if somebody asked me quick, Okay, what's coming out next
week? There it is. Quick, right? Because otherwise I'd be like a gone show. So I have that. I
have folders. I have a tracker that I also use. So every single film, on there and all of this. So
each thing that I do, I track every single step. so I know where they're at for each. So they like
talking about stakeholders like Clayburn Village, Paul Fox, each of the businesses and what
I've done for each of those businesses. So, cause otherwise, and then anybody else, So say, I
say I got in a car, crashed tomorrow and wasn't here, somebody else could go in and take
over easily, right? That's the idea. Right? So then they would know where does she, where
does she leave off on that film? , but 90% of it like is all. Actually, I think I'm switching over
from Christmas. This board was all Christmas like it was all another fashion of the Christmas
movie, so. . It was like, how many different ways can you say Christmas People were, people
were mocking me at one point. So cough, more maintenance. Do you guys know Parks and
Rec? The show Parks and Rec? Yes. So this is gonna be, uh, like a playoff, parks and Rec, so it
is super cool. I'm excited. Yeah, so it's fine. Everything, like I said, it changes. and like
Christmas wrapping paper is always in my office.So yeah, I don't know if you guys have any
more questions, You guys can email me or, Oh, whatever you want.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

No problem at all. Do you guys want some, You wanted one of those sheets,

I think....