MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The county councillors elected Oct. 18 say they are looking forward to getting on with the job starting this week.
The elected councillors being sworn in on Oct. 26 are incumbent Greg Harris (acclaimed) in Division 2, Alan Miller in Division 3, Gord Krebs in Division 4, incumbent Angela Aalbers in Division 5, incumbent Peggy Johnson in Division 6, and Jennifer Lutz in Division 6.
A recount in Division 1 on Oct. 20 confirmed incumbent Dwayne Fulton as being re-elected. He had 290 votes and challenger Edward James Shaw had 289.
Following the Oct. 18 election, the candidates were asked what their top priorities will be once they get down to work.
A third-term councillor, Aalbers said, “We have budget to pass so one of the first things to do will be to review the operating and capital budgets. We have several new sets of eyes on the budget so it will be great to have those discussions. I want to hit the ground running. There are lots of great things to work on.”
A second-term councillor, Johnson said, “Certainly the continuation of the preserving agriculture land is a priority for me. In that regard the hazard land policies that are going to be re-written for the municipal development plan, it’s going to be very important to see how that goes.”
A second-term councillor, Harris said, “The budget is the biggest priority right now because we are putting that together for next year and certainly I want to pay particular attention to that. It’s always an important file for council, especially in these days of unknown, when we don’t have a lot of idea what their (provincial government) plans are. We have to prepare for what the province might bring down.”
First-term councillor Miller said, “My first priority would be to see what we can do with the budget and try and make it work with what we can do with what the province is going to try to download onto the county. We are going to have to figure out what we can do in the county to handle that without raising taxes hopefully.”
First-term councillor Lutz said, “My first priority is getting back to the table with the Town of Olds on the Olds Fire Department. We need to get people back to the table to have discussions to make sure that our constituents are being looked after.”
First-term councillor Krebs said, “My immediate goals on council will be to improve consistency and efficiency of council and administrative decisions. It’s going to be a steep learning curve but I think we are all up to the task.”
Second-term councillor Fulton said, “The first priority is going to be tackling the budget and making sure that we can keep the expenses in check and keep the mill rate down. That’s the focus right now.”
All councillors said they were pleased with how the 2021 campaign went. Coun. Johnson said she would like to see a voter list prepared for the next municipal election in 2025.
Councillors are scheduled to be sworn in at the Oct. 27 organizational meeting.
At that same meeting councillors are also scheduled to elect a reeve and deputy reeve from amount their fellow council members.
The reeve is the municipality’s principal spokesperson and the deputy acts in his or her place as require.
