By Rina Rast, Kindersley Social, October 29, 2016
With Kindersley’s 2016 Municipal election in the books and the newly elected Mayor and Council sworn in Friday morning, Kindersley is entering a new phase of progress.
Mayor Rod Perkins and Councillors Randy Ervine, Gary Becker, Ken Francis, Dean Galbraith, Shaun Henry, and Elyse Moss are excited to begin making an impact.
“I’m very, very happy with the Council,” stated Mayor Rod Perkins. As Mayor, he says the first thing he plans to do is take a couple of deep breaths. “I didn’t come in with an agenda,” he says. “I think we need to take a good, hard look at a few things,” but he is pleased with the strong business background of the Council, and he’s confident in its ability to create positive change.
“There’s some good candidates on,” agrees Randy Ervine. He says that he believes the new council has good business experience and a good amount of common sense. He says that at the Candidate forum on October 13, the candidates’ recurring theme was creating openness in the town and keeping the doors open, and this theme will continue as the new Councillors serve out their terms.
Gary Becker is primarily looking forward to “learning new things and making positive changes in the town.” He feels the new Council is coming in with a different outlook, and it has its work cut out in changing the mindset of the town’s administration. As Councillor, he says the #1 priority is to get an affordable pool in operation, as quickly as possible.
Ken Francis is also excited to see the diverse backgrounds and business experience of the new Council. “I think it’s a fairly sharp group,” he said. As a member of Council, he says the biggest challenge he and his fellow-Councillors will face is restoring the public trust in the town’s administration. He’s also eager to look into finances and budgets: “I don’t think our problem is our income, it’s our spending.”
Dean Galbraith is “looking forward to getting down to the nitty-gritty” on Council. He feels that the biggest challenge he foresees for both himself and the entire Council will be learning the legislative process. He’s excited to “get his feet wet” and experience how Council operates, and he’s looking forward to working with his fellow members of Council. “I honestly believe that we’ll get a lot of stuff done.”
Shaun Henry is happy to see the business minds filling the seats on Council. As the only incumbent candidate to run and win a seat, he feels the biggest learning curve for the group in general will be “getting acquainted with the role.” He himself is looking forward to stepping down from the role of acting mayor and returning to Council. “I enjoy being on Council and going through that process,” he says.
Elyse Moss is very excited to use her seat on Council to help make more improvements to the community. She agrees with her fellow-Councillors that diffusing the animosity between the town government and the community will be their biggest challenge. She also feels that they face learning curves in becoming more familiar with the legislative process. However, she’s pleased with the Council’s obvious motivation, and she’s eager to begin contributing to the team’s efforts. “At the end of the day, it’s a team we have to deal with,” she says.
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