Irricana now has three candidates ready to fill the role on Town council left vacant when former councillor Laura Thiessen resigned for personal reasons last year. Council set the byelection for Feb.
Irricana now has three candidates ready to fill the role on Town council left vacant when former councillor Laura Thiessen resigned for personal reasons last year. Council set the byelection for Feb. 11 and residents Joshua Buzzell, Frank Friesen and Mavis Hallman have stepped up as candidates.
With his family invested in Irricana, Buzzell, 31, hopes to be a voice of forward thinking that will lend a hand in developing the community his children grow up in.
Running for council in the upcoming byelection, Buzzell wants to represent the demographic of younger families in the community, which he believes is missing on the current council.
He hopes to be an advocate for Irricana's future with a long-term plan supporting the next generation and a more immediate solution to address technology and information sharing.
“I felt like we needed to bring a fresh perspective to communication,” he said. “We have a lot of young families here and from the opinions I've gathered from them, they don't really feel like the Town is moving towards that direction.”
With a self-taught background in information technology, he wants to address some of the shortfalls with the Town's website, including the inefficiencies in the fluidity and organization of it.
Buzzell said he believes there needs to be an immense push for opening communication channels with the public, both online and in-person, as he has found the current council reluctant to comment on anything, opting instead to take the stance, “saying nothing is better than saying something wrong.”
“I think it is 10 times worse to say nothing because then you're letting things ignite and get out of control,” he said.
With the pickup of progress in the past six months - including blue bin recycling, a pharmacist and a doctor - he feels now is an exciting time to be jumping into the political landscape of Irricana.
Moving forward, the Town must collectively overcome its fear of increasing taxes, he said, as residents cannot expect more services without the budget balancing.
“I'm conservative, but at the same time the way we are doing it right now is not working,” he said
His concerns for change within the community stem from his children, he said, as their future lies in Irricana.
He said he believes council should start looking step-by-step how it wants the next decade to go. Though he has ideas about what that looks like, he said the opinions of residents come first and foremost in the decision-making process.
“I think we need to invest in the future and infrastructure,” he said. “I don't think we should be passing the bill on 15 years from now.”
Buzzell can be contacted through Facebook or at [email protected]
After three years reacquainting himself with the community he spent a happy portion of his childhood in, Friesen decided the time was right to get back into politics by tossing his name into the running for the upcoming Irricana byelection.
With previous municipal experience as a Town councillor and deputy mayor of the small village of Cereal, Alta., between 1995 and 1997, Friesen said he fully intended to run for council in Irricana's next general election.
“When this byelection came up, I thought now is as good a time as any,” he said. “I certainly know the runnings of a Town, what it takes and how to do it.”
With the attraction of a developer, doctor and pharmacist in the past year, Friesen has witnessed plenty of positive change move through council. However, he said there are always opportunities to improve and do more for Irricana.
In an age of social media and instant communication, Friesen feels a disconnection has formed between the Town, council and the residents, which complicates the flow of information and benefits no one.
“That's a big issue that's not happening and I'm hoping to close that communication gap,” Friesen said. “Once the communication side is built, then you will build the confidence of the people.”
Communication is a cycle, he said, as it is important to get information about issues to the public right away to get a sense of what residents thoughts are. This will allow council to have a frank discussion in hopes of forming a solution that will be shared with residents as soon as possible.
Everyone has to have the opportunity to be involved “on the same page,” he said, which doesn't necessarily mean everyone is going to agree with each other.
“As a matter of fact you shouldn't,” he added. “What we need to do is constantly find a point of agreement, work from there and constantly keep building.”
Friesen said when three solutions are presented before him, he is always looking for a fourth and though he is only one voice, he wants to be a persuasive and innovative one.
He hopes, if elected, he can help better the community he and his partner have chosen to call home.
“It's a great town, but I think we can do better,” Friesen said. “We don't plan on going anywhere because there's no reason to.”
Friesen can be contacted via Facebook or at [email protected]
Hallman, a 35-year resident of Irricana, hopes to bring her common sense approach and deep knowledge of the community and its organizations to Town council if elected in the Feb. 11 byelection.
Hallman is recently retired after 30 years working at Rocky View Publishing, which took over publishing the Five Village Weekly and later became the Rocky View Weekly.
She said she has a lot to learn about the municipal planning, but said she now has the time to make her position as councillor a fulltime endeavour.
“I think I can do some good and I want to make a difference,” she said. “I've always been proud to be from Irricana, but there's room for improvement always.”
She would like to see more communication between residents and council because without it, a lot of guessing and rumours begin to spread through the community.
Hallman believes every councillor currently sitting ran because they wanted to do good, but Hallman said this lack of communication can lead residents to believe council has something to hide, misconstruing the good intention council had to begin with.
“People need to know what's going on because they are the tax payers and it's their money,” Hallman said. “They need to know that council is being responsible with their money, so we have to find a happy medium for communication.”
Hallman said volunteering has been her social life in the community in the last 35 years. She has given her time to the Irricana Ladies Club, Lions Club, Pioneer Drum Corps, Volunteer Firefighters, the library, Scouts, Bingo Association, food bank, Hall Board, Curling Club and Ag Society.
She said she has had the opportunity to know many of the residents on a personal level, but she is excited to connect with the public once again in the role of councillor if elected.
“There are a lot of new people in town who don't know me yet,” she said.
She said she works well within a team unit, but also has her own distinctive ideas that could help improve the entire team element of the council.
Hallman added she has her own opinions but is open to changing if a better way is presented.
“If you can convince me that a decision is right, then I will change my ideas,” she said. “I'm not so stubborn that I can't be reasoned with.”
Hallman can be contacted through Facebook or at [email protected]
