Tackling debt remains a top priority for Leanne Tuntland-Wiebe as she throws her hat in the ring for another term on Swift Current City Council.
"We did accomplish quite a bit over the last four years," Tuntland-Wiebe said. "One of the things that I did run on last time was to lower the debt and we have been working on that... keeping taxes low and we managed to do that. The first year end we had no tax increase at all, which was hard to do. We were coming out of COVID four years ago and we had to be pretty cautious about what we put our residents and our businesses through."
Tuntland-Wiebe's other highlights included her role on the truth and reconciliation committee, collecting debts owed to the city, completing the Chinook Parkway expansion, creation of the accessible park on the southside, and new whistleblower protection.
"We enacted a whistleblower bylaw and that allows employees to safely lodge concerns and complaints," she noted. "One other thing I heard while I was standing on the police advisory committee is how our liaison officer with the RCMP to the high school was having trouble enforcing the vaping laws up there. There were no consequences. When the provincial government raised the age limit to from 18 to 19 for vaping, that allowed the city to very quickly react. Now there are consequences. We enacted the bylaw so that there's a fine that can be levied against the students.
"When you sit on different boards and different committees, you hear things. Throughout the community you realize where the struggles are, and it gives you the voice to speak to city council and city admin to be able to help in those situations."
Tuntland-Wiebe noted there was a lot of learning in that first term, and she asked a lot of questions.
"Most of the time you sit there, you observe and you're learning all the time," she said. "What questions should be asked and when should the questions be asked? And the longer that you're on you learn those right questions and you have to ask them. There are no dumb questions. Your voice matters and you should use your voice. That's a good lesson for everybody."
Looking to the future the city's finances and major projects are top of mind.
"The biggest challenge will remain the debt," Tuntland-Wiebe said. "We're hoping to build that aquatic facility, which will bring our debt right up to our ceiling. That has me a bit worried. I'd like to see the plan going forward of how the city can manage that, so I'll I'll be raising that if elected. I want to see the actual plan. I'm for the Aquatic Center. I want it. My grandchildren want it. I want to see it, but I'd like to see how we're going to be able to do it."
The municipal election is scheduled for November 13th.