Terry Leslie is running for mayor and can be reached at 403-638-3535.
My name is Terry Leslie and I am running for mayor in Sundre because I love where I live. I came to Sundre in 1979 to teach. I have always been inspired by the pioneer spirit in Sundre community and the "we can do it" attitude. I am now a retired - recovering school principal and I want the job because I have time to devote to the issues. I want to give back to the community that provided wonderful opportunities to my family for over 3 decades. I want to bring positive and optimistic leadership to a community I have admired, bragged about, and enjoyed for 34 years.
I have experience on town council - 5 years as a councillor and 6 years as mayor from 1984 through 1995. I know the history of my community and how vitally important it is to have great working relationships with county council, the school board and the provincial government. In my day job I worked as teacher, guidance counsellor, vice principal and principal in two communities - Sundre for 19 years and Olds for 14 years. Those roles gave me great experience in communicating and problem solving with people. I lived through the "do more with less" education cutbacks of the 80's and 90's and I know what efficiency and fiscal responsibility looks like.
I moved my parents to Sundre for the last years of their lives and I lived some of the issues facing seniors and their families.
My oldest granddaughter goes to school here and I am watching, again, the importance of having a broad balance of activities, programs and services for young families as my daughter and her husband raise my grandchildren in the community I love.
My issues and priorities are:
1. Public Safety - we need to deal with the aftermath of the flood. We must focus in a coordinated fashion with County Council, our MLA and the Provincial Government
2. Budget and taxes - I'm a numbers guy. We need to balance the support we have for programs, services and facilities with affordable taxes. We must have more commercial and industrial businesses to balance the disproportionate 78 percent reliance on residential taxes. We need to cut red tape for businesses.
3. Positive communication - as Mayor, the buck stops with me. It will be my responsibility to keep you in the loop, to explain what is happening and why, to listen to your priorities, and to be available and visible.
4. Seniors Housing and Care - There must be local options that are best for us that allow dignity and family support for quality of life at the end of life.
5. Recreation, Culture and Parks - Our challenge is to protect all our recreation and cultural assets in an efficient and affordable fashion, particularly for young families and youth. All of us want healthy, active and affordable options in our community - no matter what our age.
I know that I live in a community that has programs and services you would only find in places twice our size. Our incredible volunteers make those programs successful. We need a future with optimistic supportive leadership and I want to lead us into the positive future that awaits us.
We need - and deserve a future with optimistic supportive leadership. I want to lead us into the positive future that awaits us. We all want to build on the cooperation, pioneer spirit and success stories around us. Look where we live - and how many people flock here to enjoy our backyard.
