OLDS — For the moment, Mayor Mike Muzychka is remaining coy about whether he’ll run again for mayor in this year’s Oct. 18 municipal election.
He was asked whether he plans to do so during a year-end interview.
“I was worried you were going to ask me that," he said with a laugh. “I haven’t made that final decision. I’ve set a January 15 goal to make that official.”
Muzychka was acclaimed as the town’s mayor during the 2017 municipal election when he filed the paperwork to run. Once he did so, former mayor Judy Dahl withdrew her candidacy.
This year’s election will be held Oct. 18 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 105.
All seven seats in council will be up for grabs, including for mayor.
Those planning to run for any of those seats have from now until Sept. 17 and again on Sept. 20 to file nomination papers.
From now until Sept. 17, nomination papers can be filed at the town office Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. On Sept. 20 they can be filed from 8:30 a.m. until noon.
Currently, due to COVID-19 restrictions, you must make an appointment with the town in order to pick up or drop off anything regarding the municipal election. Call 403-507-3242 in order to do so.
Muzychka was asked if he enjoys being mayor.
“I do. I really do," he said.
“It’s a bigger commitment than I thought when I first started,” Muzychka added, noting that managing the COVID-19 outbreak made the job more challenging.
Looking ahead, Muzychka said the COVID –19 pandemic may require some changes to the way this year’s municipal election is held.
“It’s something that we certainly need to start thinking about fairly early here in case we have to adjust somehow, some way,” he said.
Last year as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, town council began meeting virtually at 1 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.
Muzychka was asked if he anticipates that will continue this year.
He predicted that will be the case, except perhaps when public hearings are on the agenda.
“The whole idea of the 6 o’clock start was so that people could observe (council meetings in person) and most council meetings don’t have interaction with the public at all, unless there’s a public hearing," Muzychka said.
“So when we do have those public hearings on the bigger issues then we’ll probably push them to the 6 o’clock (start time) so that people can participate who have to work all day.”
He pointed out that since council began live streaming its meetings, they’ve all been posted online via its Youtube channel, so people can observe them “at their leisure.”
“Now that we have the ability to record and post live streams of all of our council meetings, I’m much more comfortable with the 1 o’clock start,” he said.
