Newcomer to the world of Ponoka politics is Adria Perepelitza (pronounced Purple-lets-ah) who hopes to use her life experiences to help the community.
She’s running for one of the six open positions for town council.
Perepelitza has lived in Ponoka for the last seven years and was in security at the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury before transitioning to patient care.
She was motivated to run for town council after having some concern with recent changes. Rather than complain, she decided it’s better to get involved and help drive change.
One thing that struck her as something that didn’t make sense was the change to the new waste management program. For Perepelitza it wasn’t clear why pick up of garbage moved to the front street when the back alley was used, and with similar sized trucks.
She also took issue with the town’s recycling depot being removed. Perepelitza added there may be a valid reason for the decisions, which is another reason she’s running for council. She feels if elected she may be able to find out the reasoning and maybe help find ways to improve things.
“I’m a big recycler. I do believe in that. I think that we can focus also on composting instead of leaf collection in that green container,” said Perepelitza, adding that there may be a way to check every possible avenue, with residents’ best interests in mind.
Seeing new jobs in town is an important part of why she’s running. When asked about the new learning centre and its potential, Perepelitza said she would like to have more information before answering. She did add that she’s in favour of the town owning the property, rather than leasing it.
While she has a professional background in security, Perepelitza has worked in many provinces across Canada. She has worked as a guide on a horse ranch, taking people through areas of British Columbia. These experiences have given her a greater understanding of what it means to work together.
“I’m a consensus builder…I like to work with a team and I like to find a positive outcome,” said Perepelitza.
Being in security, Perepelitza said there were many times her positive and welcoming attitude helped her be safe. That life skill is something she hopes to bring to the town council table if elected.
Perepelitza takes the approach of hearing every side of a story before making a decision. She prefers to hear and meet with people to get an idea of why they feel a certain way. From there it’s about open communication and working with those individuals.
She would like to see all residents have a chance to be heard, and hopefully have a greater understanding of changes that are happening.
The biggest challenge Perepelitza sees for Ponoka is finding ways to make it welcoming for businesses to make Ponoka their home.
One area Perepelitza feels strongly about is beautifying one’s home. She says that same focus on Ponoka as a whole will come with her if elected on town council.
“I like to beautify things to make them look good,” she said.