Mary Ashton-Groulx is the second candidate to run for the open seat on Westlock County council. The byelection for Div. 5 is scheduled for Sept. 17.
Transparency and roads top the agenda for a Westlock County woman who has come forward as the second candidate for the open Division 5 council seat.
Mary Ashton-Groulx has filed her paperwork and began her campaign to fill the seat vacated by Darrell Osmond June 25. The byelection will be held Sept. 17.
Ashton-Groulx, who owns a farm east of Tawatinaw, said her neighbours approached her last year about running, but a new position at work and Osmond’s candidacy were sufficient factors to hold off.
But job stability at the Thorhild Co-op, where she works as produce manager, is no longer an issue this year. In the past, she has also worked as a nurse and in the service industry.
She believes council should be more accessible to ratepayers, and views transparency and communication as key points.
“We’re one of the only counties that holds meetings during the day. A lot of members of the division are concerned because they can’t attend the council meetings so they feel like they can’t get the information. They don’t know what’s going on.”
“I think if people understand where the money’s going, how it’s being used, and if there’s some say in how those things are being prioritized,” then county council would have done its job of communicating properly.
Previous executive roles with the Alberta Fish and Game Association recommend her for the job on council, as well as her current position as president of the local support group for the Cadets.
Ashton-Groulx added that “what comes out (of council) has been very controlled.”
“For the ski hill, we voted on a plebiscite, but nobody ever had all the numbers to know what was going on there before the vote.”
Even now, Ashton-Groulx says most of the information relating to the ski hill has been reaching people via the newspaper or, for division 5 residents, via the ski hill operators and employees, but not from council directly.
“We all know the budget is very vast, but there has to be a way to abbreviate that so … that the average person can pick it up and understand it,” said Ashton-Groulx, extending the issue of transparency to general budget.
Her suggestion is similar to that offered by her opponent, David Woynorowski, at a special meeting on the 2020 budget June 17, when he proposed that council offer a cost on a per-user basis breakdown of tax dollars.
But right now “we don’t feel we have a voice. Nobody’s hearing us over there,” said Ashton-Groulx.
For her and other division 5 residents, this is evident in the state of their roads as well.
“Almost everyone I’ve talked to has complaints,” said Ashton-Groulx. “There are definitely road issues: roads that are sinking, culverts that are rising” and have led to water accumulation on adjacent yards.
“Move forward” is Ashton-Groulx campaign slogan, and she sees the recent communications survey council released at the end of July as “a step in the right direction.”
“You can’t change things from the sidelines. All you can do is be part of the solution and change it from the inside,” said Ashton-Groulx.
