Reeve Beattie will seek re-election

Mountain View County Reeve Bruce Beattie says he will seek re-election in the October municipal election.

Speaking during a break at last week's policies and priorities meeting, Beattie said his decision to run again came following a recent council workshop.

“In coming through that my goal was to see what was ahead and how council was going to approach it,” said Beattie. “There are a number of projects that we've initiated and I feel I want to be part of seeing those projects completed.

“Those include the road plan agreements, the review of our operations, the review of the land use bylaw, how we are going to deal with some of the development pressures, and improving our relationships with the other municipalities, where we are on the right track but have a way to go. There are lots of issues.”

The councillor for Div. 4, Beattie was elected reeve by his fellow councillors midway through the current term after Coun. Paddy Munro stood down from the reeve position for health reasons.

During his April spring open house, Beattie said he had not yet decided whether to seek a second term. Now he says his mind is made up.

“It's a steep learning curve being on county council and the ratepayers have invested in us in terms of us learning the system, so doing that for three years and then walking away, I can't justify that in my own mind. I made a commitment and want to stick to it,” said Beattie.

Deputy Reeve Patricia McKean, and Coun. Al Kemmere have already announced that they will seek re-election in October. Councillors Bob Orr, Duncan Milne and Paddy Munro have all said they are still deciding whether to run.

First-term Div. 1 councillor Kevin Good has said he will not run again.

Councillors elected in October will, for the first time, serve four-year terms instead of the current three-year terms following changes to provincial legislation.

During last week's policies and priorities meeting, Coun. Munro said he is opposed to changing council terms from three to four years.