Former front-line paramedic and local business owner of over 20 years, Dan Onerheim, is among the 24 Okotoks council candidates this year.

Onerheim has been involved in a few provincial and local council boards, as well as several non-profit boards. He's had an interest in municipal politics for some time, having sat in on a number of council meetings.

Though he's got his eye on a few local matters he'd like to tackle, he says they all start with one of the town's longest-standing issues.

"They all relate into one issue that we have to resolve, and that's the water issue. It has to be put to bed. It's been going on for over 25 years. Let's get it done and finalized, let's secure a long-term source of water that's permanent."

He says that would then open up the possibility of expanding the town's business space, which would help with the tax split between businesses and residents.

"Right now in Okotoks it's about an 80/20 split, so 80 per cent residential, 20 over cent business. On the provincial and national average, that has historically been around 65 per cent residential and 35 per cent business. That's the goal we have to get to."

Housing is another issue he sees as being held back by water.

"We have to have, from a municipal level, direction through our municipal development plan, our area structure plans, and also the residential structure plans so that we have a good variety of housing. By having that and bringing in businesses, now we're able to have a good cross-section of rental stock, a good cross-section of affordable housing. People that want to get in and be a first-time home buyer, we have housing stock available for that."

"The other thing that's very important to me is that we address the inclusive housing stock and also housing stock for people with disabilities."

Accessibility is also a factor he'd like to expand on in Okotoks' downtown areas, especially when it comes to parking and access for people with mobility issues.

Onerheim is a direct advocate for clear communication between council and residents and has been hearing about one particular issue quite a lot on the campaign trail.

"A major concern from quite a few people I've talked to is the utility fees the town charges for water, for sewer, for garbage collection, for recycling, and for organic waste. They feel those prices are really high. As a council, we have to look at efficiencies and how we can go back to delivering core services and really excel at those core services to the residents for Okotoks."

With that said, he'd hoping to see residents putting in some time to get informed on local candidates, given the amount of turnover we'll be seeing on town council and the sheer amount of people running.

"What I'd request of each and every single resident is, no matter who you vote for, get out and vote. Take a look at who's going to represent you, who's going to listen to you, and who is going to represent your viewpoint and not put their viewpoint ahead of representing the collective whole."

 

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