Nominations for town council in Black Diamond will reopen Tuesday morning after only five candidates submitted their names for the six councillor positions on Monday.
Anyone interested in running for council will be able to submit nomination forms tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon. If there still aren’t enough people who step forward at that time, the Town will reopen nominations every business day until a sixth submission is received.
“I’m a little bit surprised,” said coun. Mike Ross, who will be one of two mayoral candidates for the Oct. 16 vote. “I thought there was going to be more interest just based on the issues we’re facing right now.”
Ross and Coun. Ruth Goodwin will both face off to take over the mayor’s chair.
The five who submitted nominations for a councillor position are Ted Bain, Daryl Lalonde, Sharon Hart and incumbents Jackie Stickel and Brian Marconi.
Marconi said he would have liked to see more people step up and show an interest in representing Black Diamond citizens.
“If you’re acclaimed or no one shows interest it says why are we bothering,” he said. “Maybe there is not enough issues for anyone to come forward or maybe nobody has got the passion or the time.”
Marconi has served one year on council after being voted in during last year’s byelection, and initially considered not running again.
“I was juggling a part-time job, council and a wife with some health problems,” he said. “When I found out that most of council wouldn’t be running I thought somebody has to be there to give a balanced perspective on things.”
Marconi said the town is faced with infrastructure in need of repair, and he would like to see it a priority. Another need, according to Marconi, is installing streetlights and sidewalks on blocks that don’t currently have them.
“We have to bring them up to standard,” he said. “We have to make sure every block is lit properly so everyone is safe walking the streets. Walking on the road is not a good thing in the winter time.”
When it comes to amalgamation, Marconi said he would like to see a business case outlining what amalgamation could look like.
“I don’t know until I see the numbers,” he said. “Status quo for sure is not the right option for both towns. After a while you can’t afford to keep going the way you are. Things are costing more.”
Ross, who has served 15 years on council, also sees many issues ahead of council and feels he would serve as a suitable leader in addressing them over the next term.
“The new council is going to be over 50 per cent new members so they will have their learning curve and I think it’s important that they have strong knowledgeable leadership to guide them through the process because we’ve got timelines on a lot of this stuff we have to do,” he said. “
This includes amalgamation, the upcoming legalization of marijuana, the new Modernized Municipal Government Act (MMGA) and taxes.
“For the legalization of marijuana we have to amend bylaws for that,” he said. “For the MMGA we have to complete the intermunicipal collaboration within timeframes and we have to have intermunicipal development plans done on a timeframe.”
As for amalgamation, Ross said council has to decide whether to proceed with amalgamation or remain status quo.
He would like to see it go ahead.
“I would like to see for the first two years we form a comprehensive collaboration committee and start working to make sure our land use bylaws are inline and get ready to amalgamate… and after two years put in the application to amalgamate,” he said.
If elected, Lalonde hopes to bring a youthful voice to the council table.
The Black Diamond resident of six years has been involved with local taxpayers associations and development groups in recent years and would like to contribute to the decision-making process.
Having attended the recent candidate training forum, Lalonde said he learned that he can’t just walk in and make policy changes but he’s looking forward to making a change as a team effort if elected.
One of the areas Lalonde said he would like to see addressed is town development.
“We are under a lot of restrictions currently,” he said. “I think we should have a bit of a moratorium on it while we get it under control. The condo complex (proposed beside the Oilfields General Hospital) is a thorn in a lot of people’s side. We need to take a step back and decide if this is right, right now. Maybe we should step back and get a few things in place.”
Another priority for Lalonde if elected is improving green space and town accessibility.
