Town councillor Rick Bonnett has announced his candidacy for mayor of Ponoka.
Bonnett came to the decision after getting a clean bill of health from his doctor. He has recuperated from a bout of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and was waiting for confirmation before making the announcement.
He wants to make council more accessible to the public and media. “That was one of the reasons I ran (as councillor) and I don’t see it resonating enough. He feels residents want change and growth — but it’s not happening. However, Ponoka cannot be compared to municipalities such as Lacombe and Wetaskiwin. “We’re too far from Red Deer. We’re too far from Edmonton. We’ve got other factors that come into the picture,” he said.
There are two areas he believes make Ponoka different than other municipalities; the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury and the First Nations population in Hobbema. Bonnett wants to make Ponoka home for more of the workers at Centennial Centre; and for Hobbema he sees an untapped work force of young people.
“How do we uniquely get them to engage with us?” he asked.
Bonnett thinks town council and the mayor’s job is to attract businesses to town and has some suggestions to move that idea forward. “If we have to do some tax incentives or we have to do something outside the box. I’m open to suggestions.”
“If we do give a company a tax break does that mean the rest of us have to pay higher property tax? Possibly but if we don’t have those discussions we’ll never know,” said Bonnett. “To me the status quo is not working for us. We’ve got to do something different to make that change.”
He feels residents should be welcome to speak to councillors during a public meeting if they have something to add. He referenced to county council’s meetings that appear to have more of an informal tone, taxpayers are sometimes given a chance to comment or councillors might ask someone in attendance a question.
When asked about the role of town administration Bonnett said their job is to run the day-to-day tasks for the community. The only person employed by councillors is CAO Brad Watson, who must ensure council’s wishes are carried out.
“Administration does their job what they’re supposed to do. I guess what it’s about is making ourselves more forceful of what direction we want to go. I don’t think we’re showing a good enough vision and a good enough strategy moving forward,” he said.
Bonnett spoke of a recent notice of motion he presented councillors April 23. He wants council and administration to plan for employees who are getting close to the age of retirement or who might want to advance their own careers. Most companies have a plan for future development.
“All we are is a board of directors for a $20 million a year company. And if that company doesn’t have a succession plan then that board of directors will probably all be run off by the shareholders,” he explained.
He feels a vision for town councillors will help drive growth in Ponoka. Bonnett said the ag event centre is a strong example of having a plan. “Once it started coming together everybody jumped behind it.”
“Growth at the amount of tax base we have is not going to do be able to do it. We’re going to have to have some growth somehow and if it means short-term, doing some tax incentives to get people in here, then so be it as far as I’m concerned,” he added.
Recent changes to the municipal elections now require four-year terms from councillors rather than three years. Elections are in October.
