The Town of Crossfield will acclaim six councillors and a new mayor on Oct. 18, following an extended nomination period that resulted from a lack of candidates registered for the upcoming municipal election.
The acclamations include incumbent councillor Kim Harris, who will serve as Crossfield’s new mayor, as well as incumbent councillors Joanne Cornelssen, Justin Gustafson, and Mike Knight, who will retain their current positions. Newcomers Jo Lambert, Luke Brennan, and Shawn Vang will also acclaim a seat on council.
The nomination deadline for Crossfield's election was extended by one day after only six candidates had put their names forward by the original Sept. 20 deadline.
Lambert, who was the seventh candidate to file a nomination for the upcoming municipal election during the extended nomination period on Sept. 21, said with over 30 years of experience working in local government, she hopes to bring some common sense and fiscal responsibility to Crossfield council. Lambert currently works in an administrative role for the Village of Beiseker.
“I’m excited to try and give back to the community and try and make it a safe and happy place for everyone to live,” she said. “I have a lot of experience and I understand how things work and the rules, so I think I will help my community being a councillor.”
While there are only five current members, council passed a bylaw earlier this year to increase the number of council representatives to seven.
Prior to the nomination deadline, Mayor Jo Tennant had announced she will not be running for re-election, while incumbent Coun. Harris had submitted her bid to replace Tennant as Crossfield's mayor.
Harris said her reasoning behind submitting a bid for mayor has not changed since her original campaign for council during the Sept. 2020 byelection.
“[Crossfield] is my home and I care about how Crossfield develops and what happens here,” she said. “I just love it here in Crossfield – this is the place where we have raised our kids and we’ve made a home here and I just want to continue that now.”
As for her motivation behind making the step up to mayor, Harris said her 20-plus years of experience working in municipal government as a recreation director and a community developer fully equips her to lead council as mayor. She is currently a community developer for the City of Airdrie.
“I stand by the good work that we have done as council and I want to continue that good work that we’ve started on transparency and accountability and doing what’s right for the public,” she said.
She added she would have liked for an election where residents had more choice, but she is excited to take on her new position.
“It’s kind of surreal because you set a goal and then you get to obtain that goal and now you can just sit down and do the hard work for citizens to ensure that Crossfield is headed in the right direction,” she said. “I want to continue down that road of transparency and accountability.”
Harris said there are a few projects in the works, including a recreational needs assessment to determine where improvements are needed in the town.
She hopes to balance those needs with fiscal accountability, promoting the downtown, and attracting commercial businesses to Crossfield.
“I just really want to do a good job for our residents and ensure that Crossfield is moving forward,” she said.
Carmen Cundy, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @carmenrcundy
