With the civic election scheduled for next month, Brent Wery has announced his intention to seek re-election to council for the Rural Municipality of Ste. Anne.
Serving his home community over the years, Wery is passionate about working hard to make life better for people who live in the area.
“One thing I really take pride in, and what drives me most, is the sense and feel of this community,” says Wery. “We have some really incredible people living in this area. I want to play a part in how things continue to move forward. I want my children and grandchildren to be just as proud as I am of my community.”
Wery has a long history of volunteering in the community, most recently with the Richer Community Club and the Richer Fire Department.
“Growing up in this area has helped to make me who I am,” he says. “I have always wanted to do all I could to give back. I took an interest in politics 12 years ago and got elected for two terms to the Local Urban District of Richer committee.”
As his first term on municipal council nears completion, Wery is determined to continue to serve Ward Three and hopes for another four years on council.
With his first term including the challenges of dealing with a pandemic, Wery says council was still able to work hard on various projects.
“We've done some housekeeping items that have been neglected for a long time,” he says. “We started conducting a by-law review which has been a long process. And we’ve made some changes to some very archaic policies. There’s probably too much to list in that area. We’ve also updated our municipal development plan to address our large growth. The last census showed us growing at 11.6 percent and we expect that growth to continue.”
Economic development is one important part of this growth, he adds.
“We hired a much-needed development officer and focused a lot of energy into the wait times for building permits which was one of the biggest complaints prior to the last election. We dropped the processing for permits from months long to now 1-2 weeks the last time I checked.”
Wery believes it is important to have more job opportunities in the municipality which would allow more people to work closer to home.
“Ninety percent of our residents travel outside of the R.M. for work, and 70 percent travel entirely out of the region,” he reports. “With the cost of living out of control, I feel a strong need to create good paying, family sustaining jobs closer to home. We have so much empty land available, far enough from residents and close enough to major highways. An industrial park and some additional commercial corridors would be a significant addition to our municipality. I have done the research and reached out to the industrial sector. There is a desire to conduct business and manufacturing in the RM of Ste Anne.”
With his focus on plans for the future of Ward 3 and the entire municipality, Wery still takes time to look back at some of the highlights of the past four years. He points out that council Allocated over $100,000 to build a park in La Coulée, and is making investments in the Giroux Park, with a desire to support improvements and growth for that area.
“And we have been better supporters of the Dawson Trail Park in Richer and are allocating another $75,000 this year for some needed rink improvements,” he says. “With smart planning and grant matching our success came with little impact to the rate payer. Our LUD mill rate in Richer has actually been frozen, or dropped, for all 12 years that I have been involved. Our residents are seeing a higher dollar amount on their tax bills but that is because of the change to how the province is addressing the school taxes and many residents also likely seen an increase in their property assessment value.”
Wery says voters can expect him to demonstrate that he is effective, experienced and progressive.
“What residents can expect from me moving forward is a grass roots local candidate using a common-sense approach to decision making with progressive values. I am very integrated into the community and because of that, I feel like I am able to bring all our residents to the council table as one voice in that way.”