The municipal election October 26th will give voters in Oakland-Wawanesa an option when voting for head of council.
Incumbent David Kreklewich is on the ballot along with former councillor Dennis Rome.
Rome was on council between 2015-2018 before stepping down just four months into another term. He’s looking for better leadership and feels rural ratepayers are treated unfairly something David Kreklewich denies.
Dennis Rome is running on a platform of taxation fairness, more attention to rural infrastructure, council transparency and accountability. “It’s a question of us not having good leadership here in the municipality. Rural residents aren’t being represented and they’ve shown their dissatisfaction through petitions. We have two thirds of the population, but we don’t feel we have a voice.”
Dave Kreklewich has been Head of Council for six years and he feels council has done a good job representing all ratepayers. “You know if you take a look at what we accomplished over the past term we have more taxation fairness than ever before. Fairness is always a question of how people perceive it.”
Kreklewich wants to see some projects like the rural water program become a reality plus he enjoys working with other councilors on municipal issues.
“Head of Council has a lot of influence, and it comes down to what your actions are. There hasn’t been anything done to deal with rural concerns such as roads and taxes. People don’t sign a petition to dissolve amalgamation without having a good reason to do that,” said Rome.
He says things haven’t changed much over the past four years and that’s why Dennis Rome put his name forward.
Dave Kreklewich welcomes the challenge and is pleased voters have a choice on election day. “People will have their say and you want to put your best foot forward and I’m comfortable running on our record and what we’ve accomplished and be progressive,” said David Kreklewich.
“There has to be fairness to all people and that’s the residents of Wawanesa and the rural residents. Your head of council has some influence but still only has one vote at the table. I’m hoping we get some good rural councilors elected that will look at the fairness approach and we can deal with the taxation issues like many other municipalities do in the southwest," said Dennis Rome.