I currently sit on a couple of municipal committees and feel that I am ready to take the next step and run for town council.

Yes, I first received AstraZeneca then a Pfizer shot and this month (October) I received a third dose of Pfizer.

I really like Okotoks’s small town feel, pathways, and sense of strong community. Moving forward I would like to see a more accessible Okotoks for people of a more mature age and people with limited mobility. It is my hope that in the near future Okotoks will become recognized as an age-friendly community with a physical and social environment designed to help seniors age actively.

I am currently the vice chair for the Family Community Support Services (FCSS) committee and sit on the Age Friendly Community Sub Committee.

I have been tuning in and watching council meetings, twice a month for over a year now.

I am in favour of our current town council’s waters solution, and am hoping that the next council will continue to move forward with the Foothills/Okotoks regional water project. I would also like to see the town extend the water conservation rebate program, and offer more opportunities for public engagement and education about water conservation. *To get a better understanding I recently went on a tour of our water treatment facility, and it is apparent that our town’s 13 groundwater wells are going to continue to struggle to provide consistent water for the long term if an alternative solution isn’t completed soon.

Okotoks is so lucky to have such an innovative (and well-recognized) transit system, and I use it intermittently throughout the year. It is the starting point to creating a more affordable community by offering alternative transportation options for one vehicle households, freedom for youth, and a more accessible town for seniors and people with limited mobility. *Okotoks transit is so amazing that it recently was awarded the Minister’s Award for Municipal Excellence in the Service Delivery innovation category.

I am looking forward to seeing the outcomes from the D’arcy Ranch, Westwinds affordable housing project. Moving forward I would like to see the town work with developers to create more diversified communities, with a variety of different lot and home sizes.

I feel that Okotoks’s business owners need more representation at the council table to better open up the lines of communication with the town’s economic development department. Town council should always support the elimination of red tape as barriers present themselves, and I feel that small businesses could benefit by attracting more day trip tourism.

I support all local businesses whether they choose to participate in the Restriction Exemption Program (REP) or not, and respect each business’s choice on which decision that they feel is best to safely satisfy their customer’s needs. The town of Okotoks’s implementation of the REP to some of the municipal buildings appears to be the more practical option of the two choices offered by the province, especially now that the CMOH has made amendments to the U-18 restrictions.

I would like to see Okotoks become a member of the Canadian “Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities”. When a town becomes a member of the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities, they commit to investing time and resources to create a more welcoming and inclusive community as part of a network of cities seeking to improve policies against racism, discrimination, exclusion and intolerance.

11 years

I feel that the CMRB is a romantic idea, but I am not sure that Okotoks sits in a great position offering the other municipalities and counties involved so much opinion with our town’s development. I am currently reading more about it and talking to a few informed people, so that I that will become better informed and literate on the pros and cons.