Four of the five candidates seeking a Ward 1 position on the RM of Stanley Council participated in a 'roundtable discussion' Tuesday evening. The event was co-hosted by the Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce and the Morden Chamber of Commerce.
Incumbent Peter H. Froese, who is also seeking a seat in Ward 1, was not able to attend Tuesday's event.
Acclaimed Reeve Ike Friesen and acclaimed Ward 2 councillor Alfred "Bitz" Loewen were also in attendance at the 'meet and greet' style event, but did not speak.
There is one seat vacant in Ward 2, which the council that will be elected on October 26th will proceed with how to fill.
Incumbent, Bob "Chomper" Giesbrecht introduced himself as a person that loves the RM he serves.
"What I'd like to accomplish is to get sewer and water down the corridor, and water to everybody that would like it. Out in the country, the “one-six” area, or the south end of town, we pretty well have that covered, everybody’s getting their water.
You listen to the people, what they're after. You know, then you try and work with that. Sometimes it's a little bit too far out. Sidewalks from Roland to Winkler...but you know, if it stands to reason and it’s a good idea, then we like to go after that.
What my goals are, it would be more to work for the public... what their goals are. It may not be my idea, but I would make sure that we (himself and committee responsible) do the best we can to make it happen.”
Fellow Incumbent, Ray Unrau says he's always liked working for the community, and that's why he decided to serve as a councillor and seek another term.
Unrau has lived in village within the RM for 40 years. "It's the only place we’ve lived...I worked in the schools (GVSD) for 30 years; Reinland, Blumenfeld," said Unrau.
"From the time that we moved there we were busy going around collecting for getting water into our village 20 years ago. Getting our community centers started, I also helped with that...me and Abe Elias went door to door collecting for that.
And I have to say when our communities, from the time when we had to do laundry at night because we had dusty roads, our wells ran out of water. Look at how far our communities have come from way back. It’s amazing.
Looking back on the last four years, Unrau feels council accomplished a lot. "From Commissionaires, to hiring Melissa (Groening - RM's Planning and Development Officer), to adding extra dust proofing on our streets. Council worked well together, I think. Most of our decisions were almost always always unanimous. Relationships with the people were good."
The third candidate to speak, Robert S. Fehr shared that he's had a strong interest in running for council for many years. He said as he gets closer to retiring, he wants to continue to be a part of the community and be and an advocate for them.
My platform is basically more along the the line of what I'm hearing out there in the community. That's what I'm basing my platform on. It's not about my agenda, but it's about what I'm hearing from the community.
I think roads are always a concern, there's always more we can do with that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not coming down on anybody saying that they haven't done their best. But roads are always a concern.
And, just accountability."
First time candidate Jon Goertzen said there are a number of reasons that motivated him to run in next week's election.
“My goals are to learn how this all works and to contribute as much as I learn. Get what you give, and yeah, just get in there like a dirty shirt and be a part of it.
I don't really have any particular ambitions or things that I see needing to change. I’ve had the privilege of dealing with council on a private venture, and I got hooked I was interested in how it worked... I just kind of recognized the importance of the body of administrators and how it all works and I wanted to be a part of it.”