With municipal elections coming up October 18, there will be at least one new councillor in Starland County come fall.
After four terms and 14 years, Division One Councillor Murray Marshall has decided he will not be running in the upcoming election.
“I’m at that age,” he chuckles. “I think somebody with new ideas and younger ideas could maybe be helpful to the county, who have been doing things the same old ways.”
He would like to spend more time with his family, including his four grandchildren.
Starland has faced many challenges over the term, including changes to the linear tax model, which has reduced county revenue.
“Do you think our provincial government is going to be really popular if they keep voting things down for the county? “ He said. “You have to keep telling your taxpayer ‘well we have to make up for this loss now’ … it gets harder and harder trying to gather things around so it still works out.”
Division Two Councillor and Reeve Steve Wannstrom have not made a decision to run again.
“There is always stuff to accomplish, no matter how many years you are there, you are never going to leave with everything you hoped to get done would get done,’” said Wannstrom. “I have never had an agenda, I ran because I had the interest.”
Division Three Councillor Bob Sargent has served for three terms and says if he runs, it will be his final term.
“I’ll run unless some young guy steps up, then I will step aside,” he said. “ I don’t think I should be in there too long, I think things need new eyes every once and a while.”
He said he still would like to see more accomplished.
“It seems with government regulations, our hands are tied to do some things we want to,” he said. “I just think we got to get more efficient. I don’t feel the county is being efficient. We don’t have the money anymore. We have to cut corners and we have to be more careful.”
Jacqueline Watts is serving her first term as Division Four Councillor, and she is still pondering a second term.
“We have made some changes there, I would like to see them through,” said Watts. “I don’t think one term is enough because you are just learning exactly what you are doing, and then a second term, you are a little more equipped.”
She says it was a challenging term for council.
“It was hard to make some of the decisions we had to do, I do think it put us in better financial shape going forward,” she said. We just did our strategic plan, so you want to stay on to make that a little more of reality.”
Division Five Councillor John Rew has not filed his paper yet, but is considering a second run at council.
“I guess it depends on what happens between now and then. I can say there is a relatively good chance I could be running,” said Rew.
He says he still has issues he would like to address as a councillor.
“There is some of the stuff I have got done, that I set out to do, and there are other things that are not done,” he said. “One thing for sure is the government moves exceedingly slow. I am from an industry where the phone rings and you say ‘how high?’ because they want it done yesterday, and to transition to government is a situation…getting something happens in an expedient way when you are used to is a bit of a change.”
