Art Purdy and Chris Terry will vie for the open seat on Village of Clyde council in a Dec. 11 byelection.
Both put their names forward on the Nov. 13 nomination day to replace the late Coun. Allan Van Eaton, who passed away Sept. 25.
“Being a taxpayer, I know how things are,” said Terry, who said he’s running to continue on the work of Van Eaton, who was a friend.
“We’re wasting money on things that don’t need to be done and ignoring stuff that does have to be done. For example, the gravel truck route through the village has already been pounded out. They have to dig it up and put a base on it, it’s not fixed. They’re just going to keep gravelling it every year.”
A villager for eight years, Terry highlighted his experience as a foreman working in water and sewer.
He added he wanted to pursue a ‘locals first’ hiring instead of outsourcing important work to firms that don’t have a stake in the community.
“Instead of hiring an engineer for $100 an hour, we could try to use local people instead of someone’s friend who’s from far away,” he said. “We need to focus on priorities. There’s lots of empty lots here, hopefully we can expand our business and people will come here.”
Purdy has three decades of experience working in maintenance in school divisions and 22 years as a volunteer firefighter in Valleyview, including seven years as fire chief.
“I live here and have an interest in the community so I figured I would give something back to it,” he said. “When I worked in the school division, we did not have much money so our goal was to get the biggest bang for our buck.
“From what I’ve seen so far, there’s been a lot of people coming around doing studies on municipal management and that sort of thing. I think it’s been studied enough, I don’t know why it’s taking so long for these kind of things to be developed. Though from what I see it is headed in the right direction.”
He said his priority is making sure the village is in compliance with the 2015 viability review, adding he did not have any issues with sitting councillors and would be focused on the job.
Purdy cites his involvement with community groups like the Westlock Tractor Museum’s “Open Combine” as an example of his ability to think creatively and having a painstaking eye for detail.
He also noted he wants to see more businesses established in the village, noting it could be a good location for a cannabis production facility.
“We should keep an ear to the ground and see if we can’t come up with somebody to start a business here on a bigger scale. I don’t know why we’re not personally in the loop in these marijuana grow-ops, they seem to be sprouting up everywhere and the country is running short of it,” he said.
“It looks to me that we could have a facility, it wouldn’t require big trucks pounding our roads. Weed is one of the most secure businesses we can get, with all the police watching it. It takes quite a few people to run a good size operation, so I’m sure that would bring a lot of residents into the village.”
Advance poll/ special ballot
At its Nov. 20 meeting, Village of Clyde council voted 4-0 to hold an advance poll Dec. 1 at the village office from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Everyone should get a fair and equal chance to vote,” said Coun. Nat Dvernichuk. “It’s a democracy.”
Noting the advance vote held for 2017 municipal election attracted only a handful, councillors opted to limit the window to four hours to minimize costs.
Council also voted 4-0 to allow for special ballots for residents unable to make it to the office.
“I personally am all for a special ballot,” said mayor Matthew White. “At our last election, a couple people explained they couldn’t get out due to health reasons.
“Every resident in the village has the right to vote even if they can’t make it into the office. We should do everything we can do to accommodate them.”
