Skip to content

Ponoka town council candidate race heats up

Another Ponoka resident throws his hat into the ring for town council
8101766_web1_170816-PON-edwin-geuder_2
Edwin Geuder

The candidate race for Ponoka town council is heating up as another resident has thrown their hat into the ring.

Edwin Geuder announced his intention to run for town council last week. Geuder is probably best known for his actions last year when he dumped garbage on the Town Hall steps in a form of protest of the changes to the town’s new waste management program. He has since worked with administration on the issue.

More recently he has become involved in what’s happening locally and provincially. For the latter he’s known for installing solar panels on his car port to save on electricity.

For local involvement, Geuder initially was part of a group that served the town notice for the borrowing bylaw related to the new learning centre. After seeing transparency on the administrative side, Geuder withdrew his claim.

Now, he wants to run for council. While he has no background in municipal work, he feels joining council will be a positive learning opportunity and at the same time give him a chance to provide his experience on fiscal responsibility.

Geuder’s background is in engineering and he is working for a company that specializes in roof trusses. Geuder is responsible for this company’s financial wellbeing. He wants to bring that knowledge to council.

He also wants to help bring unity to council. “That is one thing I want to promote very much is to get the council and the town and mayor united.”

“We have two challenges; one challenge is certainly how we have to look at our finances,” said Geuder.

He suggests in the near future, to meet the needs of the younger and older populations, taxes are going to be an important consideration so that both parties’ needs are met.

Further to that, Geuder wants to see unity with the town and Ponoka County and a resolution with regard to the two fire halls in the Town of Ponoka boundaries.

“We have to work with the county of Ponoka to find a resolution,” he said.

Now that the new learning centre development is under way, Geuder says he has no intention of stopping the project but to try and get a better understanding of the costing.

He also wants to see some modernization of council meetings that would allow residents to tune in and watch live, or at a later date. He feels this would give residents a chance to understand better the council process.

Geuder has lived in Ponoka for the last four years.

On the Town of Ponoka’s website there is a list of the individuals who have given their intention to run.