It has been a dynamic decade for the Town of Cochrane.

Many key decisions were made that have given the community legs. Among those shaping the future was former Mayor Ivan Brooker, and the councillors he served with.

Now within striking distance of 30,000, the town has grown nearly 70 per cent in the last 10 years. Cochrane is fast shedding the image of being just another bedroom community of Calgary.

"We didn't have a lot of services when I was a kid growing up in Cochrane, so you had to go to Calgary for everything you wanted," says Brooker.

"That was one of the reasons I ran for council in the first place. It drove me crazy."

"That is not the case anymore. Now as many people come to Cochrane for work as go to Calgary."

"You never hear people talking about Cochrane as a bedroom community of Calgary anymore. In my opinion, we're a stand-alone community. It's nice to know people have the opportunity for employment here, unlike some previous years."

It took some hard-nosed negotiations and tough decisions to make it all possible.

He believes key developments included the expansion of the SLS Family Sports Centre, the creation of the Quarry business district, finding a suitable home for Garmin's expansion, and clearing the way for the new Bow River bridge.

He views the SLS rec centre expansion and bridge crossing agreement as two crowning achievements.

"I was down there again today, and it was packed full of families and kids."

He has long maintained the centre is a major draw.

"Now with everything that we have there, it's an amazing asset for the town. I know for a fact that a lot of people chose Cochrane as their home because of it."

He believes the new sports park will encourage even more to become Cochranites.

"I worked with the school board and county for a long time on that. I believe that will be another reason why people will choose this community over others."

The Quarry commercial district has become a huge economic driver for Cochrane.

"You could say the icing on the cake was keeping Garmin in town, and finding them a location that provided them the opportunity to expand."

"For a while, we were fearful there wasn't going to be any options in Cochrane for their expansion, and we'd lose them."

For several decades, the town discussed the need for a new Bow River bridge. Conversations overheated more than once.

That was finally put to bed when land agreements were reached in 2017. Brooker was a major part of those discussions.

"Four major landowners all had to agree on how the layout of connecting roads on both sides of the bridge would come to fruition."

"Everybody, of course, had their agendas, but at the end of the day, I was thankful that all parties saw the bigger picture, and wanted to work together to see that resolved. It took a tremendous amount of work to get that done."

He is disappointed that the desperately needed improvements to Hwy. 22-Hwy. 1A once again became a question mark, but he remains hopefully we'll see shovels in the ground.

While Brooker was mayor, then Transportation minister Brian Mason announced approval of the project.

"We were in Edmonton multiple times to have conversations on how that would look, and what the town could do to make sure that they understood how dire it was. We were very exciting thinking we had that finally completed."

He says it's gratifying to see how the community has come into its own in the last decade.

"A lot of things we put in place because we believed they would be future drivers in creating a better community."

Brooker served a total of 10 years on council.