An elected official needs to assess carefully where money is being spent. And we need to develop and abide by strong financial policies and practices that prevent excess spending. At the TNRD, through a lot of hard work and frankly painful experience, we now have some of the best financial policies and practices anywhere in the country. When the TNRD board understood our policy gaps and lack of practices enabled excess spending, we took action immediately. The City of Kamloops has studied this work as well and we need to ensure our local practices and policies are very strong as well. I personally now apply an even closer look at financial information and also am proposing a review of the city's discretionary expenses for the next council.