Members of the public were given the opportunity to hear from the 10 candidates running for county council at the all candidates forum held at the Multi-Purpose Room Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
Members of the public were given the opportunity to hear from the 10 candidates running for county council at the all candidates forum held at the Multi-Purpose Room Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
Doug Drozd
I was approached by county councillors in 2010 to throw my hat in the ring. When I got elected, I ran for as many committees as I could to get as much experience as possible. Municipal government is another steep learning curve, but it's another one I think I've been equal to.
The opportunity exists within municipal government to take specialized training. The courses are available through the elected officials education program, and I've completed courses in municipal governance, municipal finance, land use and development, community and economic development, addressing local infrastructure, communications, media relations, sustainability and negotiating skills. One course to go for the diploma.
In addition I've taken training and have been authorized by municipal affairs to be on a local assessment review board.
I am the vice chair of the Barrhead Regional Water Commission, vice chair of the Barrhead Ag Society.
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Jane Goski
I'm relatively new to the area, so that means I come with a clean slate. I bring a woman's point of view and perspective. It's actually been 18 years since there has been a woman on Barrhead County council.
I've been told at your doorsteps and at your kitchen tables that you want responsible, responsive, and good decision makers to be your voice on council. To get a deeper understanding of the County and the Town I volunteered for FCSS, and I also volunteered at the Museum. I've attended about 12 formal learning opportunities; workshops, courses, webinars, seminars.
I found the best informal way to learn is to talk to people. Seasoned farmers at Parsons' auction sales, or even at the Co-Op store where I work.
My agricultural education includes an animal health technology diploma. I've also got an agriculture B.Sc. from the University of Guelph in resources management and ecology, where problem solving and land use planning were the main focuses of my education.
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Glenda Mosher
I was an alderman and a mayor in a small community in British Columbia, so I'm quite familiar with the municipal act and the duties of being a councillor. I have 10 years in the bank financial employment, and 12 years in a big hospital as an admitting clerk and a staffing clerk. My life's work has given me a multitude of skills in communication, and I have a degree in management communication.
My husband of four years is a professional agrologist, and I have learned a lot of pertinent agribusiness from him. We also, as a partnership, have been running a purebred red angus cattle ranch for approximately 23 years.
I am currently employed at the Keir Care Continuing Care Centre in Barrhead. I am very hardworking, dedicated, and I work really hard to right wrongs.
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Marvin Schatz
I have farmed in Barrhead for 20 years. I am presently on the Co-Op board and have been for 10 years. I was involved in the 4-H program while the kids were growing up.
I enjoy the dialogue you have in a board room or, in this case, council chambers. It is an opportunity for me to give back to the community that I live in. I am open, honest, and approachable. I want to see this county move forward in economic development.
I feel I have the experience it takes to be an effective councillor. You have to be able to work with people. That doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone all the time, but you have to be able to give and take. You have to do your homework, process information, and make decisions.
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Ronald Kleinfeldt
My wife and myself have been married for 35 years, and have farmed for over 20 years. I was encouraged by four of the present councillors to run for councillor.
I understand the challenges of the agricultural sector. I have the time required to fulfill the responsibilities of a councillor. I am a bus driver as well. During the day, most days, I have that time off. I do work occasionally in the bus shop,, but most days I have the rest of the day off.
I'm approachable and willing to listen. Often at meetings I'm the one who listens more than speaks. I do not have a personal agenda, I'm here to serve you. I would like to encourage a positive relationship to work together with the Town. I have past and present experience working for volunteer organizations to improve the quality of life for residents.
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Vince Wiese
I was born and raised on a farm in Meadowview, that's what sparked my community spirit. I've been self-employed for 18 years. My problem-solving skills have greatly developed from owning a repair shop for 15 of those years. My personal skills have developed from owning the gym for 13 years. For the past two years I've been developing and building senior condos.
I built my acreage from a bare piece of land five years ago. I built the gym 12 years ago at the age of 27. I am on the Ag Society trying to build a new pool. I was on the Rec board, and at that time sparked the idea for the walking trail and the skateboard park.
I am committed to this community. I want to put my skills to work to build a bright future for my four kids and for our seniors to retire in.
Doug Drozd
Our biggest needs in this community are new expanding businesses and the jobs and the tax base they would bring. I've been a member of the Economic and Community Development Committee since it was formed and we've done a lot of great work. One of the directives of the committee is to better relations with the existing businesses. We've conducted over a dozen site visits over the time, and with each and every case we found ways to help those businesses or learn from them.
A common message we hear is we all want the community to grow. The Town and County councils decided to jointly fund a professional video company to produce a video that would show the world what an essence of life was like in Barrhead.
The biggest development for us in the County is the acquisition of a quarter section of land just east of town. Preliminary engineering is done, and there are really low limitations to what that land can carry.
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Glenda Mosher
I think we all agree it's economic development. we need to listen more to the county stakeholders, the community, and the people directly involved with the economy to find the problems of Barrhead. We have to make sure we know what the problems are, and that the problems are not in fact a symptom. You might say that we need more jobs, but that is just a symptom because we're lacking economic growth.
I personally would like to see Barrhead create some kind of a theme, and develop a beautification project around that theme. I've done this successfully in the past when I was an alderman and mayor back in British Columbia. The idea of course is to bring more tourism, get ourselves identified and bring more money from the outside.
Some big names, a five star hotel would be nice, maybe a few more bigger fast food chains to make us appear.
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Ronald Kleinfeldt
We're actually in pretty interesting times. We've got cutbacks in most areas, so we're going to have to learn to work together. Economic development is certainly an issue. Basically my first concern, the number one problem I've heard is roads. For my constituance, that's one thing I would like to work on.
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Jane Goski
Foremost, a good transportation infrastructure is required for our essential services to get to us. Ambulance, fire and school buses have to have access to people and properties. This involves the area structure plan to address immediate community needs while predicting long-term evolution, and development of Barrhead County and Town.
Cultivating a welcoming environment for economic development would create good job opportunities that would entice our young people to raise their families here. A long-term proactive strategic plan needs looking as far into the future as we can see or predict.
The opportunity is to capitalize on our agricultural strengths with farmer's markets and locally grown produce and products. For example the Co-Op, just a year ago, there were locally grown potatoes and celery on the shelves. We just couldn't keep it on the shelves. The mindset of the 100-mile diet and eating locally is becoming a part of today's consumers.
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Marvin Schatz
I do believe economic development is something that's real important. There are so many variables that control the economy. I believe that we have to position ourselves to be available and ready so when companies are ready to make moves we are there for them. So that people know who we are, where we are, and what we have to offer them.
I think one way of doing this is an aggressive economic development committee that is getting out to trade shows, one that knows our County, and is available to the corporate world so it knows what we need to attract businesses in Barrhead.
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Vince Wiese
We need to work together a lot closer as a community, County and Town. Economic development is 100 per cent right on the money. The County has a new chunk of land just east of town, Sean Steele has a chunk of land in town. We definitely can not be in conflict, but I think if we had them both developed or tried to get them both developed I think that's right on the money.
I would like to see the Town work closer with the County. I pretty much lost my front end the last two years on my own road. I'm not really sure what's going on, but we definitely need to look at the roads.
Economic development, we've got to get it going and be progressive. We do need a new pool, it's part of that development. People are not going to move here if they don't see that we are progressive.
