As the deadline looms for candidates to step forward and run in the municipal election, a current Ponoka town councillor has announced she is hoping to be re-elected.
Carla Prediger officially announced her candidacy last week and will be focusing her campaign on leadership, collaboration and bylaw enforcement.
“I’m running again because I spent the last four years working very hard to continue to improve this community,” she said in an interview at the town’s Day in the Park celebration Aug. 18.
“I one-hundred per cent believe in the committees and the people who are part of this town, and (the town) needs to move forward.”
Prediger was first elected in 2013, where she received the most votes — 1,282 — among councillors.
During these first four years, she explained she has been educated on a number of things.
“I learned patience and tolerance. I learned a lot about what it takes to run a town and I learned what the role of councillors should be versus being operational,” Prediger said.
”I’ve also learned the best of people and that some people have a difficult time managing decisions.”
To go with those lessons, she believes that anyone wanting to take on municipal politics needs to be more than simply a one-trick, one-issue pony.
“I think that for those that are vying for council, they need to really have a strong understanding what they are getting into,” she stated.
“I think my background in management and working as a manager for 15 years, raising my family in this community, wanting my family to stay, planning on retiring in this community; that all has to be the real reason you are running for council.
“Vested interests never serve you well and keeping things on a very plain level versus trying to see the big picture is critical.”
If she is re-elected, Prediger wants to continue to pursue the work she’s been doing on various fronts as well as to keep pushing Ponoka forward into the future.
“First and foremost, I’m going to continue with the roles and responsibilities I have with my committee work. That work is huge for me,” she said, noting her work on the downtown heritage revitalization committee along with the recreation advisory and police advisory committees.
“There is a lot of work being done by our citizens that I think council needs to listen to.
“I also want to continue with the momentum and make sure the projects we have started are finished. Whether it is the airport expansion project or something else, there are a lot of good things happening and the town has momentum. I think too much change is going to disrupt that momentum.”
One other item on Prediger’s list is to see what can be done on the issue of community protection, which involves another look at the fire service as well as continuing to push for more regarding bylaw enforcement.
“Definitely on the fire services, I mean we have to restart those conversations and see what that looks like and how we can be more economically and safety focused for our community, not just a town versus county,” she added.
“I also will be looking again at how we can move ahead on bylaw enforcement.”
Candidates for the Oct. 16 municipal election have until Sept. 18 to file nomination papers in order to get on the ballot.
