A record number of people attended a candidate forum to hear what Okotoks council and mayoral hopefuls had to say on issues like water, affordable housing, taxes and economic development.
There was standing room only at the Foothills Centennial Centre for the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forum on Oct. 3, and 17 of 18 candidates attended. The forum allowed 51 questions to be asked, with council candidates each answering three. Mayoral candidates followed in a separate session.
Candidates were given 45 seconds for their response and were allowed to rebut for 30 seconds once throughout the night.
More than 100 questions on the issue of water were submitted to the chamber ahead of the event.
Trellis Palmer said she thinks this is the time to pursue the water pipeline, adding growth will be stunted if nothing is done.
“People don’t want more residents moving here if we can’t resolve this issue,” said Palmer. “This next four years is going to be imperative.”
Karen Neal added water has been on the table for years – she advocated for a pipeline while running for council in 2010.
“What we need to do is continue to lobby our provincial and federal government for the same deal other municipalities around Calgary received,” she said. “They received 90 per cent funding for their water pipelines.”
Florence Christophers said her top two priorities are to secure water and drive economic development.
She said one can’t happen without the other.
“We’re not just asking the Province for water so we can continue to develop, we’re turning away businesses,” said Christophers. “We need further economic development and if there’s any province in the entire country that should understand that, it’s Alberta. We’re in the middle of a recession.”
When asked specifically about economic development and taxes, she said the Town needs to grow its commercial and industrial tax base to offset residential taxes. Currently, about 87 per cent of tax revenue comes from residential taxes and 13 per cent non-residential, far below the Town’s goal of a 78-22 per cent split.
Neal Coskey suggested the Town put pressure on new development to cover expenses offloaded to the residential taxpayer.
Some had other ideas. Both Dale Burton and Dan Proctor called for a freeze on tax increases and to look for ways to spend responsibly instead.
“The key is opening up the books and finding inefficiencies, because we do have a lot of money we can spend,” said Proctor.
Candidates were also asked about affordable housing in Okotoks.
Nicole Watkins, a realtor in town, said she’s seen firsthand the need in Okotoks.
“This is definitely a problem,” said Watkins. “I maintain a very keen thumb on the pulse of the real estate market and we do not have enough low-income housing to satisfy the needs of our community.”
Tanya Thorn said the answer is to demand more diverse product from developers, including tiny homes, smaller bungalows, condos, townhouses and duplexes.
“We need to start setting the direction for what we want to see in our community and provide feedback to our developers so we can get that,” said Thorn.
Mayors
Some questions around water and affordable housing were repeated during the mayoral forum, though other community concerns also came to the forefront, including the need for a performing arts centre and how to encourage economic development in town.
Bill Robertson said a performing arts centre is definitely needed in Okotoks, though the 1,200-seat facility some have requested isn’t feasible.
It makes more sense to build a 300 to 500-seat centre with room for expansion, he said.
“What we have is not adequate,” said Robertson. “We need to have a performing arts centre and I would support this before the next major recreation facility.”
Carrie Fischer said she’s been working on development of a new facility since January, meeting with the post-secondary education committee, the Okotoks Arts Council and the Okotoks Library to discuss the possibility of a joint venture.
“Hopefully, there’s something that can come out of that where we can have a co-located facility with those three organizations collaborating,” said Fischer.
As far as taxes, both mayoral candidates expressed a need to move toward a broader commercial and industrial tax base to lessen the burden on residents.
Robertson said all Okotoks residents can play a part in strengthening the local economy and helping more businesses establish themselves in town.
“One of the things we have to promote and everyone needs to do is shop locally,” said Robertson. “When people go shop in another community, all you’re doing is hurting your own business tax base.”
In addition, he said the Town needs to develop a strong economic development strategy.
Fischer said a targeted recruitment plan for business is the key, to bring more light industrial and technological businesses to Okotoks and get the non-residential tax base up to between 22 and 30 per cent.
“If we go into pursuing some technical markets, because we’ve got such a high educational base and growing young population, I think we look towards what the future’s going to bring and what the needs of the future will be,” said Fischer. “I think that’s the area we need to expand for economic development.”
To watch both forum sessions, visit the Western Wheel’s Facebook page.
