Through the 2017 Municipal Election season The Eagle 100.9 and Okotoks Online will be bringing you profiles of candidates to help you make an informed decision.

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

"I'm a family man with five kids, and I've lived in Okotoks for 12 years. I've been here long enough to kind of see a substantial change from what I'd call more of a small town feel to getting a little bigger, and a little more boisterous as a town. I have diverse experience as an entrepreneur having worked in construction for nearly 20 years. I have also worked with small businesses in a marketing capacity, because that's my formal education is in business and marketing."

What is the main part of your platform?:

"My platform is about communication and community engagement first and foremost, I think that when in the past you get turnouts of 25 per cent of the voter population it says a lot about the actual engagement that council has with the community, so that's the first thing I really want to address is getting out there and engaging the community. The big issues are water, we have to immediately secure additional water based on the expansions that are occurring that I feel, and I think a lot of people feel are inevitable. We have to expand because if we don't then the communities surrounding us will, and they'll still be utilizing our services. I'm also a big proponent for new and expanded recreation and arts facilities. These are really big topics and everybody always questions the bottom line and how we're going to pay for it, and I have some ideas surrounding that where the new communities that are building off of our shoulders work with us in a higher capacity to help build those facilities. In any of the capacities it's always looking to find funding that doesn't shoulder off residential which I think is a big component of the tax base here. The third portion which partly ties into that is expanding our tax base within a commercial and light industrial arena. I think our mix is off in the sense that we need to increase the commercial and light industrial mix, thus taking some of that tax burden off of the residential tax and rate payers."

Why do you think you'd make a good councillor?

"I feel I'd make a good councillor because at the end of the day my objective is to listen and communicate. I'm one voice of 30,000 people, but at the end of the day if I'm on council it's about working with the community to find out what is important and actioning on those items. I'm not going to come in here and make big, grandiose promises. It really is about listening to the community determining what's important, and moving forward with a plan to deal with those important issues."

Every Okotoks candidate running for the 2017 municipal election will get to opportunity to explain who they are, their platform and why they are running. The candidate profiles are posted at random. If you are a candidate and have not been contacted, please email news@okotoksonline.com

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email us at news@okotoksonline.com