Newcomer has experience

Angela Aalbers brings 15 years of international experience in the oil industry with her to the Mountain View County council table as the acclaimed councillor for Division 5.

Aalbers spent time in California, Holland, Nigeria and Gabon, Africa in mostly four-year postings as a petroleum engineer, doing project work and development. The time spent at those postings taught her about the importance of getting to know the people and how to listen, communicate and understand local concerns before proceeding with a project.

She views her time on council as no different.

“I did mostly four-year postings. That was Shell's optimum time frame for you to be in a country. They felt they got the most benefit from you from a four-year posting so I have a very good idea of what a four-year posting means and how you ramp up,” said Aalbers.

Getting a feel for the position or country is a key part of the process, with listening and learning at the forefront before implementing a plan, she said.

“You need to listen, you need to really communicate, you need to understand and then comes the action plan,” she said.

There is a lot of different perspectives from residents in the county, and they need to be balanced for the good of all county residents, she said.

The new councillor will take her cue from county residents and has no set agenda that she wants to implement.

“I think it's dangerous to come in with your own set ideas of exactly how you want to do things before you understand what's already in place and what people really want,” she said. “I see myself taking the first short while to acclimatize to the council.”

Aalbers said she sees the councillors working well together, with a good mix of returning councillors and newcomers.

She sees the new four-year term as beneficial because it will allow new councillors enough time to get acclimated while still allowing some time to do some good work for county residents.

With that long-term planning in mind, she said many councillors may not see the benefit of their work, but the work will benefit residents in the long run.

“That extra year allows us the opportunity to really set a good base and get a good understanding of where we want to go. I think we have the opportunity to really look at the medium- and long-term issues to set the county up for success,” she said.

Aalbers spent the past two years working on the county's economic development and tourism advisory committee.

In that position, she worked with four of county council's seven members. She said that, combined with her project delivery and communication skills, will work well at the county council table.

“That, with the fact that I've been out of the oil and gas industry almost four years now, I was looking for some way to use my skill set and it just seemed like a really good fit,” she said.