ATHABASCA — Athabascans can start voting today, Feb. 2, for either Steve Splinter or Darlene Reimer in the byelection to fill the vacant seat on Town of Athabasca council following Loretta Prosser’s Oct. 18, 2022, resignation.
An advance poll runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the town office, while the main voting day is Feb. 13 between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. when there will also be a mobile poll going to Extendicare, Pleasant Valley Lodge, and the Athabasca Healthcare Centre — any questions about the election can be forwarded to the Town of Athabasca CFO and returning officer Jeff Dalley at 780-675-2063 or e-mail [email protected].
Splinter aims to unite the community
Splinter, owner of Tracker’s Pet Supply, has a busy schedule between operating his business and being on the Athabasca and District Chamber of Commerce as well as trying to find innovative ideas to bring Athabascans together.
“If you want something done, give it to a busy person,” Splinter laughed during a Jan. 26 interview adding he was on council in 1999 but resigned after a year to manage the Athabasca Landing Swimming Pool when it was under threat of being closed.
He would like to see a long-range plan to cover a broad spectrum of industries from Athabasca University (AU) to the Athabasca Regional Multiplex (ARM) and the Tourism and Economic Development (TED) Committee to agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism.
“One of the challenges I see in the community right now is there's a lot of very keen people working on a lot of little things (but) there is a lot of siloing going on,” said Splinter. “There's no disrespect to anyone, like I say, we've got some keen individuals working away on stuff, but I'd like to see the town act as more of a facilitator-coordinator. Let's work together. Let's do stuff.”
He would like to see nonprofits and service groups working with the businesses to create opportunities to draw people into the region.
“Like the (Magnificent) River Rats,” he said. “Let’s try and have the town metaphorically buy into the River Rats and saying, ‘What can everybody do to make the biggest thing going?’”
Splinter, and his opponent Darlene Reimer, were given three topics, the Town of Athabasca suspending being involved in the Tourism and Economic Development (TED) Committee, the ARM budget, and Athabasca University (AU).
“I think this is where we kind of come back to that point No. 1 is, one of the things to do is a little bit of planning,” he said about the TED committee. “I'm sure some planning and thought have gone into this; I would be very surprised if it hadn't, but what are two or three things we can do as a town, which the greater community can buy into?”
He would like the town, who recently announced they are taking a hiatus from the TED Committee to focus on two or three key things.
“I think if we just start really picking a couple of focused projects that we can work on then we have a good chance of success,” he said. “I’ll use River Rats as an example again because it’s a keystone project. Make a heck of a weekend out of it and we can show we had more visitors; businesses showed an increased amount of sales. You have a trackable way of doing it then you can get other people excited to participate.”
As a business owner he also notices trends.
“One of the one of the neat things that you see in trends, and I'm seeing it here in the store, is demographics are changing,” he said. “I'm seeing a lot more younger people moving into the community. Some of them are working remotely. Some have jobs here.”
Splinter would also like to see more programming at the Multiplex as part of a larger drive to help keep AU in Athabasca noting there are many perks to living in the region.
“I totally support the current campaign of Keep Athabasca in Athabasca University. I think it's awesome and I think they've made a lot of progress and to back off now is kind of like throwing in the towel,” he said. “However, I think if we work on business development, tourism, community development, it will give them a reason to come here because this is not the big city.”
Another trend Splinter sees is using the Multiplex.
“I go swimming every morning and the parking lot is getting full first thing in the morning, so there’s more people there benefiting from it,” he said. “More effort must be put into going. How do we fill this facility and keep the deficit the same? Reduce it possible? But let's work on trying to get things going and see what our rate of recovery is.”
Reimer wants to help other
Reimer is a long-time Athabasca resident and until recent layoffs by Servus Credit Union was the branch manager in Athabasca. That left her with time to explore other interests and one of them she never felt she had time for was politics.
“Just having more time on my hands; availability, and I think that was a big piece of it,” she said in a Jan 23 interview. “When the last council was voted in, I had been approached and told, ‘you should consider running for council.' but I didn't have the time or the capacity to do it. I think you need to be able to do it justice and just going to night meetings isn't necessarily doing that and I couldn't have put any more into it. So, now I have the time which makes it helpful.”
The last few months haven’t seen Reimer sitting idle though, she’s a long-time member of the Rotary Club of Athabasca and was able to focus on the recent celebrity dinner which raised enough money to pay off the remainder of the club’s commitment to the Athabasca Regional Multiplex (ARM).
“It frees up those councillors who aren’t able to do day meetings easily,” said Reimer. “I can potentially help out further in those areas.”
When she was in Prince George, B.C. she would watch the candidates speak but never saw herself in a councillor position in a larger community.
“I would have never thought about running in a bigger centre like that because, to me, the demand was greater but then as I sat and thought about it, I think it's just as big in any community; they're still all the same issues,” she said.
Wanting to be on council also fits in with something she’s passionate about which is helping others.
“This has been a learning experience about who I am, and why I should run,” she said. “Other than having banking financial experience, I bring being a manager and having the skills of dealing with people in tough times, in conflict.”
She has taken some time to observe the current council in action, as anyone can, to see what goes on.
“When I went to the council meetings and listened to what they said, what happens, I can tell they've read everything in the background," said Reimer. “So, they're just really having a low-level conversation at that point and making decisions because they have already done a lot of the research and everything beforehand.”
Reimer, and her opponent Steve Splinter, were given three topics, the Town of Athabasca suspending being involved in the Tourism and Economic Development (TED) Committee, the ARM budget, and Athabasca University (AU).
“To me, both are important,” she said about TED. “Try and help the existing businesses to keep their doors open and I believe tourism would help. I think they both play a large part in attracting new businesses. Tourism is important for any small community because it’s not just about the people who live here but those who are coming through. You want them to stop and see things and take advantage of what we have.”
Recreation facilities would need to have outrageous user fees to even break even and Athabasca isn’t alone in running a deficit on the ARM.
“I don’t know how much it costs and I’ll be open and honest about that,” said Reimer. “I do know that there is a cost to the community, but I think it’s really valuable.”
She noted sports events like tournaments and bonspiels draw people to the area allowing them to access other amenities offered in Athabasca.
“Growing up in small communities, in other places, having that local place where people could meet and get together and do things, I find brings that sense of community as well,” she said.
Reimer said she also supports the lobbying efforts to keep AU in the community.
“I have to learn more but I’m grateful they did hire a lobbyist and I’m grateful the town and (Athabasca) County continue to support it,” said Reimer. “I do believe that having a presence of AU here makes a lot of economic sense.”
