Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau delivers first State of the City speech

As she spoke to a Timmins Chamber of Commerce gathering on Thursday, Mayor Michelle Boileau said she has a positive outlook for the city.

“Hold on to hope for a little bit longer ... Also to keep that sense of optimism," Boileau said.

She said Timmins needs workers and a lot of them: 80 early childhood educators, 15 family physicians and 25 medical specialists are required and she said one solution to attract them is to increase housing.

“We’re looking at developing subdivisions," said Boileau.

"There’s already a lot of land here in Timmins that had been pre-approved for subdivision development and kind of had just been sitting on the shelves … We’ve pulled that back out and we’re moving that forward.”

The mayor also assured the crowd that plans are underway to continue work on the Connecting Link and completing a master plan for the Timmins Victor M. Power Airport.

And, when it comes to addressing crime concerns, Boileau said she's been working on that.

“So we just kind of have to regroup for that one strategic priority, put the right people at the table and then we’ll be able to come up with some strategies that I hope will have the results that we’re all looking for," she said.

Some people in attendance said they appreciated learning about the mayor's plans to improve key areas of the city. They said that will help grow businesses.

"I’m happy to see where she’s going with all this and where the team’s going with our city," said Dan Ayotte, president of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.

And a commercial account manager with RBC said he was overall impressed with the mayor's presentation.

“I like the fact that there’s a lot more planning in place for the future around tourism, the activities within the community itself. I also like that there’s a lot of plans for transportation which is key to growing a community."

Boileau also said the engineering department is planning for more than $30 million worth of infrastructure work this year, which she said will enhance quality of life and stimulate the economy.