South Centre Ward: Article #1

September 18, 2018

Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks and, in particular, last 24 hours.

It all became real shortly after 10:30 a.m. yesterday with a phone call saying that my nomination papers had been confirmed, and I was officially a candidate for Coucillor in Ward 6 (South Centre) in the 2018 Brandon Municipal Election.

The thought of running for Brandon City Council has been something I’ve considered in each of the last two municipal election years (2010 and 2014), and even in the by-election of the Riverview Ward in May of 2016.

Previously, I’d felt that I didn’t have the time to fully commit to a position on Council. Now that I am in my post-media career, I have more time on my hands and feel this is the proper time to ‘enter the race.’

I also chose South Centre in large part because I believe that having at least two candidates for each position is important. It allows for the exchange of ideas and allows for increased awareness on issues important to residents, which is important to the democratic process.

Those that know me will not be surprised to learn that I did a lot of research prior to making this decision. Not only did I attend the Candidate Information Night held at City Hall on September 6^th, but I also talked to a handful of current and former Councillors about what the office entails.

Thanks to Jeff Harwood, John Lo Regio, Jeff Fawcett, and Don Jessiman for the information they provided to me, and their encouragement to run in the upcoming election.

Also, special thanks to what is likely the busiest person in Brandon over the past ten days in Melanie Powers, the Senior Elections Officer (SEO) for the City of Brandon (if you ever wanted to know what SEO stood for). Her ability to walk me through the process of how to become a nominated candidate made it very simple for me to understand what I was required to do in order to be put in the ballot.

Some of the things that I certainly learned was needed signatures of at least 25 registered voters in the Ward on your nomination papers (which I collected last Wednesday night by walking a few blocks – thanks to everyone who signed), and the setting up of a stand-alone campaign bank account.

Unsure of the protocol, one of the first things I did after being confirmed was to reach out to fellow Ward 6 candidate Nick Brown to let him know personally that I was running in South Centre. I also let the local media outlets know of my decision, and sent them the profile that was included on the www.brandonvotes.ca website.

There’ll be lots to do over the next 35+ days (the election is five weeks from tomorrow), but here are some of the things I hope to accomplish:

· Meet as many residents as possible in the South Centre Ward and discuss the issues that are important to them. Being a Councillor is about acting as a ‘spokesperson’ for the residents in your Ward, and being the bridge between them and city administration.

· Try to schedule my availability for the various forums that may be held in the next five weeks. Being a shift worker, it may be difficult to attend all of them but I’ll do my best.

· Answer any questionnaires that may come my way honestly and openly. I’m sure there are subjects which I will be far from an expert on, but I will do my best to learn as much about them as possible.

· Formulate opinions and ideas on topics that are important to residents, and find ways to convey those publicly.

· And, of course, try to accomplish a few tasks that will be important to the campaign (setting up a Facebook Page, developing a brochure or flyer to hand out to residents to tell them what I’m all about are two that immediately come to mind).

Obviously, there’ll be a lot more details to follow in the next 35+ days.

In closing for this first entry, I’d just like to remind residents of Brandon to please vote. You don’t have to vote for me, but please get out and vote October 24^th.