09/21/2021
The nomination period has closed, and there are 13 Council candidates along with 2 Mayoral candidates. This is absolutely fantastic for our town. Seeing so many others step up, and show their desire to serve the community makes me proud to call Coaldale home.
With so many great candidates to choose from, I believe it's very important for citizens to get involved, ask questions, and learn what each candidate brings to the table. It's important that you are well informed about the vision and values each candidate will have as guiding principles.
It's very evident the main focus for this election is creating a more transparent, open, honest, accountable and compassionate group of leaders for the next Council.
But what does that mean to you? What are your expectations for your elected officials? What are your expectations for the next 4 years?
To me, Transparency means being able to provide all the information, no matter what side of the issue it supports, bias should not dictate what is put out to the public.
Openness means being able to have active conversation, or debate, knowing that your mind could be changed in the face of new information. If you go into a situation knowing your mind can't be changed, you're not open to the conversation.
Honesty means expressing your beliefs, opinions and biases, so those around you, know where you stand.
Accountability means being able to accept the consequences for your actions, and taking responsibility for your words and behaviors, past and present.
Compassion to me means being able to listen, understand, react and empathize with the opinions and beliefs of others.
A great leader in my eyes is someone who can motivate those around them to reach their potential, and then harness those strengths to fortify their own weaknesses. A leader should always be ambitious, but not for themselves, a leader should always work towards the goal of the community. A leader should lead by example, not force.
I expect that over the next 4 years, whomever is elected is able and willing to listen, to everyone, not just those who support them, while ignoring or bullying those who oppose them. I expect elected officials to put their biases aside, work as a team, and lead our town down a continually successful path of growth and prosperity.
As a citizen, I know what I'd love to see out of the next 4 years. Continued growth of our community, that will bring new programs, facilities and businesses to our growing population. A new school, and recreation center is a great start for our youth, but there's so much more that everyone in our community could benefit from. While other candidates may ask what you'd like to see for new business, I'm taking a different approach. My question is how can we help local entrepreneurs open the businesses our community so desperately needs? If elected, one of my visions would be to find ways to incentivize local entrepreneurs to keep their businesses local, and to provide their services to our community.
If you're curious to learn more about my visions and goals if elected to serve you on council, please feel free to reach out. If not, I hope you take some of the questions posed here, to other candidates, to learn more about them.
I look forward to learning more about the 12 other candidates over the coming weeks, so I, like the rest of you can make a well informed decision on October 18th!
