How long have you been living in Thompson?
I can here as a teenager in 1963. Fifty-five years.
What do you do for a living?
I’m retired.
Why do you want to be on city council again?
I was first elected in 1995 to a three-year term and thereafter it’s been four-year terms. So I’m completing my sixth term. I’m still interested in the well-being of the community, but I think that the last term, for instance, there are only two other people there who had any council experience and that was Mayor [Dennis] Fenske with one term as councillor and Coun. [Penny] Byer had one term as well. When you know the past history of an issue you can contribute and I felt that with my experience that that should be an asset to a council.
What is the biggest local issue you want to address if you’re re-elected?
The financial issues are going to be first and foremost, but what’s very important to me is addressing our crime rate, our downtown situation. I’m not opposed at all to the CSOs, but when we hired four people in that type of position and they’re finished at 11 o’clock at night when that’s when the youth are out doing their vandalism, I think there’s a number of issues that we need to address to reduce our crime rate and our vandalism. If the region is successful, so is the community. So that’s a priority with me as well. I guess financial, public safety and economic development are the areas of my interest.
Why should someone vote for you over the other candidates?
I think experience would probably be the main reason, and the fact that I’ve been here for a long time and I’m familiar with Thompson. We’ve had upsurges and downsurges and I don’t think there’s anybody on that ballot that’s better-versed in the history of Thompson.
Anything else you want to add?
A very important issue this election is to elect people who will work together and not have little splinter groups. That’s something that I find doesn’t work to anybody’s advantage. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to even admit it, but I find that’s a real handicap.
