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Three Okotoks mayoral candidates go head-to-head

Mayoral candidates participated in the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce virtual forum on Oct. 5.
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Okotoks mayoral candidates Tanya Thorn, left, Jeff Reinhart, centre and Naydene Lewis take the stage for a virtual forum on Oct. 5.

Three mayoral candidates took to the virtual stage in Okotoks for a livestreamed forum ahead of the municipal election.

Tanya Thorn, Jeff Reinhart and Naydene Lewis participated in a candidate forum Oct. 5, weighing in on questions posed by Okotoks residents, with water and economic development being hot topics.

Each candidate provided their perspectives on how to solve water supply issues and finalize the regional water pipeline.

“We have a history of a plan that is slow to fruition and I’m hoping during this term on council, whoever is leading the way will have a plan in place,” said Lewis.

She said the first order of business should be contacting the Province to find out what the hold up has been.

It would be beneficial to get more regional partners on board, rather than just Foothills County and potentially Nanton, which is in talks with Okotoks and Foothills, she said.

“If I had it my way we’d be partnering with our local region, getting all the municipalities on board,” said Lewis.

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Naydene Lewis speaks at the mayoral candidate forum on Oct. 5. (Krista Conrad/Western Wheel)

Reinhart said the solution needs to be solidified sooner than later, and a strong relationship with the Province and Foothills County will help achieve that goal.

“Being able to collaborate with them and come up with the full solution to give water to Okotoks is my first and foremost, primary thing I would like to accomplish, and making sure we have good communication with these entities will help ensure that,” said Reinhart.

Thorn said the memorandum of understanding is in place with Foothills County and land for the required three-months’ supply reservoir has been purchased, and the project is now in the design phase.

Having Nanton enter the discussion has changed some of the capacity needs, so the municipalities are currently reviewing long-term needs and plans for growth to determine the design, she said.

“Those designs and capacities are scheduled to go into the Alberta government with applications in quarter four of this year,” said Thorn, adding the environmental water treatment plan has already been submitted.

“We are on track to break ground in 2022.”

All three candidates agreed water plays a role in the economic development, growth, and affordability of Okotoks.

While she said the Town may be missing out on some investment until its water solution is realized, Thorn offered some ideas to drive economic development and business attraction.

“We need to build some partnerships with investors that we are selling a great value proposition, on why choose Okotoks,” said Thorn.

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Jeff Reinhardt speaks at the mayoral candidate forum on Oct. 5. (Krista Conrad/Western Wheel)

Reinhart said the business base in town needs to be expanded to help alleviate the tax burden on residents. This could be achieved by incentivizing investment, he said.

“Being able to supply and have incentives like flexible short-term tax rates for new business would allow businesses to then come into our town, have an easier time getting established within the community, developing a clientele, and then being able to increase their taxes once they become established,” said Reinhart.

Lewis agreed incentives to attract new business to town such as tax breaks or rent reductions or freezes could help broaden the non-residential base, but she said there are existing businesses that are also part of the economic development puzzle.

“We need to start promoting in our community businesses we have so that they are more familiar with what we have in our town,” said Lewis.

As the town begins to grow, she said the first thing council needs to work on is economic development to support existing businesses and ensure they stay open and thrive.

Growth needs to be well-managed, she said.

“We have to ask our community what they want in terms of the future,” said Lewis.

Reinhart agreed, adding the Town needs to develop a strong strategic plan for its future growth to ensure it continues to be a place people want to be.

Building on the sense of community is important as well, he said.

“We need water and we need good financial solutions to bringing business to town, and I believe with doing that we can make Okotoks a better place,” said Reinhart. “If we all come together and work together, and have a strategic plan on where we want to be and where we want to go.’

Thorn said the success of Okotoks’ future growth lies in promoting its value for living and doing business, facilitating business needs, such as finding suitable locations for homebased businesses to move into street-fronts, but also in changing the way people look at the town.

“We also need to get out and start developing a different water story in Okotoks,” said Thorn. “We need to tell the story, once we sign that deal, which I have every belief will be done and it will be in the ground in 2022, we need to sell that story, because a lot of people don’t come here because of the story we have.”

That water story is also impacting affordability in town, she said.

“I know it doesn’t sound like it should be, but water builds into creating affordability into the community,” said Thorn. “The uncertainty around water has been impacting development.”

She said continuing to foster partnerships with Westwinds Communities and Brenda Strafford Foundation is important in making gains, as well as advocating to the provincial and federal governments for affordable housing funding.

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Tanya Thorn speaks at the mayoral candidate forum on Oct. 5. (Krista Conrad/Western Wheel)

Reinhart said affordable housing is an important initiative, but living expenses are also vital to affordability.

“When it comes to creating these communities, we would need to make sure that our taxes and utility costs keep in check with these communities,” said Reinhart.

Lewis agreed, saying affordable living is more than just lower-priced housing options.

“It’s also affordable taxes and affordable user fees,” she said.

She said taxes in Okotoks over the last eight years have increased incrementally, with a total 18.6 per cent in increases over time, while weekly earnings average 5.44 per cent higher. 

With a proposed two per cent increase in the budget guidelines to cover service levels and obligations including retroactive RCMP funding, she said there needs to be communication with the community on why it is necessary.

“We need to know what those obligations are before we make those decisions and justify the two per cent,” said Lewis.

Thorn said the Town is facing many fiscal challenges in the coming years, especially as new infrastructure comes online.

“Managing those fiscal realities will be a challenge for this new council, which is one of the reasons why that economic development is so important,” said Thorn.

Reinhart said keeping taxes at zero doesn’t necessarily solve problems. While people want affordable living, he said it’s up to council to make smarter spending decisions.

“We need to make good decisions and including bringing in more business,” said Reinhart. “Bringing in more business will help our tax on our residents. Everything we do needs to be well thought-out, smart, responsible and sustainable.”

All three candidates agreed the downtown core is thriving but could use the support of better options for parking and accessibility so residents can access businesses easier.

Each mayoral candidate plans to actively engage with the community regularly, as well as on specific issues as they arise, and to gauge what residents want to see in areas like downtown, arts and culture, community safety and youth engagement.

Thorn said as one of the few who has engaged on social media in the last two terms, that’s an area she wants to see improvement.

“I think everybody who sits in an elected position has a responsibility to engage where our residents or people we represent are,” said Thorn.

She said she would also like to see consistent town hall meetings with council, administration and the public.

Lewis said she agreed with that approach but would like to see it expanded further to include coffee house sessions and publishing highlights from council meetings for the community to read, as well as more conversation with council.

“I would like to see committee of the whole meetings, where councillors and mayor actually get to sit down before the meeting or on a different day than a council meeting to have an open discussion about ideas,” said Lewis.

Reinhart said it’s important for council to be proactive in its communications and take initiative to interact with residents in various ways to keep them informed.

“I think we need to get out in front of people, I think we need to force ourselves to engage them and then have them be there for us as well,” said Reinhart.

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