. It's a race!
Two candidates are running for mayor and seven candidates are running for council in the 2013 Sundre municipal election.
Six councillors in addition to the mayor will be elected for the next four years.
Terry Leslie and Annette Clews are battling for the mayor's chair. Jodi Orr, Verna McFadden, Chris Vardas, Paul Isaac, Myron Thompson, Cheri Funke and Tony Jordan are running for council.
Leslie is excited to be running for mayor after a hiatus of 18 years. He previously served as mayor for six years and a councillor for five years. Orr and McFadden are running for council for the first time.
Vardas, Isaac, Thompson, Funke and Jordan sat on the previous council.
“I love where I live,” said Leslie, noting that he has lived in Sundre for 34 years.
What drew him to the community was the “optimistic spirit” in town and one of his main goals is to bring that feeling back. He feels there is a lack of communication between council and residents and wants to change that.
“The ‘we can do this' attitude – I want that back,” he said.
He has raised his children here and this community is important to him. He wants to listen to people in the community and give back to the community.
Orr has lived in town for 29 years and recently retired from ATB Financial. She is running for council because she has the time to commit and she wants to give back to the community.
“I want to see a healthy community and an engaged community,” said Orr, adding that her main focus would be on seniors in the community.
McFadden has lived in the Sundre area for 37 years and said she has the time and the desire to run for council.
This community is important to her, as she has raised her children here. Her main focus would be seniors and youth in the community.
She lives by Desiderata, a poem written by Max Ehrmann in 1927, which is Latin for ‘desired things'.
The nine candidates declared they were running for council between 10 a.m. and noon at the town office yesterday. They have 24 hours to withdraw from the race.
The advanced poll is on Oct. 16 and election day is on Oct. 21.
