DIDSBURY - Newly-elected Town of Didsbury councillors have discussed some of the early things they would like to see done as the new term gets underway following the Oct. 18 municipal election.
The councillors elected were incumbent Bill Windsor, incumbent Dorothy Moore, Ethan Williams, incumbent John Baswick, incumbent Curt Engel, and Joyce McCoy. Mayor Rhonda Hunter was elected to a second term.
Second-term councillor Windsor said, “My first priorities will be collaborating with council, administration and residents to formulate four or five strategic goals for this term and additionally working on the 2022 budget. A priority will be securing a location for the east water reservoir and equally important is putting in place policy to return and maintain the sewage lagoons at full capacity.”
Second-term councillor Baswick said, “The big thing is making a warm and welcoming environment to developers and investors in our community. And the other thing is fixing 23rd Street north past the new Buy-Low Foods store, and that’s a priority for us. My idea is if we do a road, a year minimum we can make things look better.”
First-term councillor Williams said, “Support for the Didsbury library expansion is a priority for me. That’s something I would like to see get worked on right away.”
Second-term councillor Engel said moving forward with the library expansion project will be a key undertaking for the new council.
“That’s a priority for me,” he said. “I think we will be heading into budget (deliberations) fairly quickly, in the next two to three weeks. The fact there are five incumbents I think will give us a bit of head start and will hopefully be advantageous to us.”
Mayor Hunter says, “I can’t wait to get back to work. Things are going so well, I think. We have lots of growth and development going on. I’m excited about all the growth and development that has gone on and keeping that momentum going. It’s a positive and interesting time for Didsbury.”
Fifth-term councillor Moore said, “My priorities are good government, economic recovery and development, well-managed growth, wide community engagement, and more respectful communication by and with everyone. I will do my best to work diligently with council and all stakeholders for the betterment of Didsbury in this, my last term on council.”
Coun. McCoy said, "As one key election issue, I will work with council to increase transparency and trust, in part, by developing a robust community participation plan and easy to understand financials, policies and bylaws. Also, roads were clearly a concern and so a viable long term infrastructure plan needs to be worked on."
