StettlerLocal.com October 5, 2021 5:15pm
Why are you running?
Erskine has been my home for almost 30 years. It has been a great place to raise our children. It gave them many opportunities for growth, learning, and service. They participated and excelled in sports, arts, and academics surrounded by caring people in their lives who helped them succeed.
I enjoy talking to my community, listening to their concerns, and working to solve issues.
This has been my first term on council and we have tackled many situations and new challenges.
We successfully communicated with the provincial government to get much-needed grants such as the “Water for Life” grant to bring water to our residents whose only source of potable drinking water was trucking it in. We retained our MSI grants and received bridge grants.
There is still a lot to do and I am ready to serve the residents and businesses of my ward to get results and build our communities.
What riding are you running for?
Erskine-Buffalo Lake Ward 6
What is your background?
My husband and I farm and ranch just west of Erskine. For 16 years we held the family Twin Arrows Ranch horse sale.
For three terms I served this area as trustee for Clearview Public Schools, finishing off the last 3 years as board chair. I gained an understanding of intergovernmental communication and managed budgets of over 30 million dollars.
Upon completing my last term as a trustee, I had community members ask me to run for county council. In 2017 I was honoured to have the trust of my community of Erskine - Buffalo Lake to be elected to County Council and continue to represent them in a new setting. I brought the experience I had gained to the county table.
I fulfilled my campaign promise to find new ways to reduce crime in the county. One way I did this was by working to establish a Rural Crime Prevention Committee. It is made up of citizens of the county along with RCMP and Peace Officers. RCMP were informed of criminal active places in our area. We held “Coffee with a Cop,” and sent out fridge magnets to all our residents with vital emergency numbers, a spot for blue sign numbers, and land location in an event of an emergency. We also attended the provincial association on crime prevention and invited guests from Red Deer as well as representatives of our MLA to our committee meetings to learn other innovative ideas that could help us in our county.
What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
My goal as a councillor has always been to strengthen relationships within our municipality and with those municipalities in and around our borders. We have a lot of common goals and I believe we can, in the face of an uncertain economic future, come together to stand with each other to better our communities.
In a collaborative environment, we can combat crime and stay on budget, while providing much-needed services and infrastructure.
Anything else you would like to let people know?
Serving as your County Councillor for the last 4 years I have endeavoured to work hard and put in the time needed to study the background material, do research, and talk to residents to make sure I am informed in my decision-making process. I’ve spent many hours on the phone and on-site with the residents of Erskine-Buffalo Lake to gather information. I then took this information to council and administration to get projects accomplished for our ward. Thank you for putting your trust in me these past 4 years and I hope to continue to be your voice for the next 4 years.
Thank you to Cheri Neitz for participating in our Candidate Spotlights.