Incumbent Lacombe County Councillor Keith Stephenson is excited about the prospect of continuing work with the county for another term if reelected.
If reelected in the civil election next month, Stephenson will add four years to the 10 he has already spent on the county council.
“I love working with my fellow councillors in making decisions that we fee are best for the county and our ratepayers,” he said.
Stephenson said he looks forward to continuing work with the staff and administration employed by the county, as they are knowledgeable and are able to give council all the information needed to make informed decisions.
“I think they do much more work than we do. They are really great to work with,” he said.
There is much he hopes to work towards if elected to his position as councillor for Division 6.
There will be a lot of work to do with the revised Municipal Government Act over the next four years, if reelected.
As a farmer with 40 years under his belt, he says he knows how important agriculture is to the county.
“We are developing a farm guide which will put all our documents about agriculture in one place for easy access,” he said.
All environmental issues are also important to Stephenson, he believes it is important to portect the water ways, lakes, wtland, natural areas and ground water. He is very interested in agriculture plastic recycling.
“We have these plastics on farms that aren’t being taken care of properly. They either end up in the landfill or burned, which isn’t good for the environment either,” Stephenson said.
An agriculture plastic recycling program will hopefully be brought forward by Council in the next while.
Rural crime is another issue Stephenson and council believe to be a major issue for not only Lacombe County but the province.
To help make the residents of Lacombe County feel safe, Council will be working with RCMP and real crime watch groups to mitigate the problem.
“It’s become a problem, years ago you could leave your keys in your car without a worry. You can’t do that any more.”
One step Council has taken is to hire an RCMP officer to help investigate instances in the county. The officer is expected to begin next spring.
Stephenson says he is an approachable person who doesn’t think of his role as a councillor as a nine to five job.
“You can contact me at any time with ideas or concerns and I will take the time to listen and find an answer. If I can’t, I will find someone who can.”