WESTLOCK – Transparency from Westlock County and road maintenance are the two main goals of Division 1 candidate Sherri Provencal, who has declared her candidacy for the 2021 municipal election.
Provencal, who owns an acreage in the county, says the first step in representing Division 1 is offering transparency from the municipality when it comes to money being spent. Election day is Oct. 18, while nomination day, the final day for candidates to submit their papers, is Sept. 20.
“We need to make people more aware of what is going on in our county. I believe that it’s not hard to put something on our website to tell people what is happening. I don’t think people know where the money is allocated. I hope that people will come forward to us with complaints, concerns, and solutions. We have to do what we can do within our budget and within our guideline,” she said.
Among her other concerns include the quality of roads in the county. After hearing complaints from residents, Provencal says that permanent upgrades need to be done to “fix them properly” rather than ongoing small-scale maintenance which she says has impacted residents. While acknowledging the concerns have been raised continually, she says they have not been heard or noticed by council.
The lifelong county resident hopes that by representing Division 1 she can voice the concerns of residents that she feels have gone unheard.
“A lot of people feel like they’re not being heard at the county, including myself, so I decided to run. I’m hoping that I can be a voice for our division. There’s always issues and hopefully we can find some solutions. We all know we can complain, but we need to be able to complain and have an idea how to fix it,” she said.
After operating an advertising business in the area for 21 years, Provencal feels that she has a stronger connection with the people of the county which she says will help her properly represent the division.
“I have dealt with a lot of different people through that from oil and gas to agriculture and I’ve heard a lot of concerns about a lot of things over the years.”
