With the city council nominations well underway, one new name has been entered into the pile, wading into city politics for the first time.
Robin Wog has experience with trade businesses around the city and is looking to be a part of the city's future through their council.
Wog says he's decided to take the leap with his nomination so that he can help out the city.
"I've been considering doing this for a number of years now. I was actually gonna throw in and step up and do it last time around and well, there was a few things going on in my life, so I decided not to. I guess with everything, you know everything that's been going on, especially as of lately, it's one of those things where you can't just sit back and do nothing forever."
Wog says that while he doesn't consider himself a big fan of politics he feels there are some issues that he wants to help the community with.
One of the big issues for him is the current debt of the city and how it will be handled in the future.
"Top of my list is definitely you know, and I'm sure there's other people that have that in mind, the growing debt. Like I know the past councils have done a pretty good job of getting rid of the debt, but of course, lately, that has kind of run up one more time here again through what's going on downtown."
"It's not that I'm against the downtown thing completely. You know, I'm very aware that the water and sewer and the storm drains and all that stuff had to be done anyway. Nothing wrong with doing a little bit of upgrade to it as well. But we just don't want to see that reckless and relentless spending over and above you know what the cost was assumed to be, say, 3-4 years ago on a project."
"I just again want what's fair for anybody and everybody in the community, right? I don't want to see taxes go up, of course, I live here, I'm a property owner here myself and my taxes are high enough as it is. I don't want to see anybody get theirs added to as well. I know business taxes are quite high here too, right? Once voted in, once elected, you know I'll get a little bit better idea for kind of what's going on behind the doors, right?"
Wog says that he'd make sure everyone's voices are heard in order to help the community overcome its differences.
"As far as the division thing goes, and to unite people, you know, unite council, unite the community, it always starts with communication, right? Without good communication, you're not going to reach a common ground. There's always going to be that proverbial, traditional sort of line in the sand drawn. Neither side will ever come to an agreement, but you know you can always work through pretty much anything and everything and come to an agreement right?"
With a fresh face for the council and experience in business and the trades, Wog says he'd be a boon for the city.
"I bring a fresh start, a new face, a newcomer to politics, as I say, I'm really not a politician. I bring a whole lot of common sense, and some experience in business, and construction. I'm a tradesperson, that's a little bit of my background and the sense to fully understand, say, an upcoming project, something that has been tabled in Council, something that's being reviewed properly look at it, make my decisions based upon facts and it's always numbers, right? I don't like to, you know, I kind of prefer to run anything even working for an employer I don't like to spend money that ain't mine."
Better settling the city's debt would be Wog's first item he'd take a look at if voted into office.
"What I'd essentially like to see is that we can clean up the debt and clean it up like never before and you know. Something that the history of a lot of communities have never ever seen before and you know, work towards building a bit of a reserve fund would sure be a luxury to have in the community that I plan to retire, in like I'm here for, well, till I expire, right?"
Wog says that his overall message to the community is that he'll be responsible for public funding and keeping the community safe.
He also encourages anyone who sees him out in public to ask them any questions they have, which he'll give his best-educated answer to.