The race for the mayor's chair is officially on after 2010 mayoral challenger Shelley Biermanski announced she will again try to unseat Nolan Crouse. Biermanski told the Gazette Tuesday there is a large swath of voters looking for change and she is the person who can provide it. “I believe we have to go back to what St. Albert is truly supposed to be,” said Biermanski.
The race for the mayor’s chair is officially on after 2010 mayoral challenger Shelley Biermanski announced she will again try to unseat Nolan Crouse.
Biermanski told the Gazette Tuesday there is a large swath of voters looking for change and she is the person who can provide it.
“I believe we have to go back to what St. Albert is truly supposed to be,” said Biermanski.
Biermanski’s announcement comes only a few days after Crouse announced he would seek a third term as mayor of St. Albert.
It was Biermanski who challenged Crouse in the 2010 municipal election, capturing 4,955 votes compared to Crouse’s 10,778. Biermanski also lost the fundraising battle, collecting only $1,000 in donations in 2010 against $48,000 raised by Crouse.
But Biermanski said she has a better idea of what to expect this time around.
“It’s a really, really tough battle,” she said of her experience three years ago. “The reason it’s a tough battle is, when you are running for councillor, everyone is your friend, everyone is there trying to be congenial and such and when you are running for mayor, everyone is afraid to be associated with you in case (Crouse) sees you associating with them.”
Biermanski has lived in St. Albert for 24 years. She works in sales and marketing with Mercedes-Benz.
“I will definitely be a stronger and more confident candidate because I know what to expect this round,” Biermanski said. “Last time was a bit of a learning factor.”
Biermanski said she has been watching council for the last three years and, while she is not yet ready to release a detailed platform, said she believes there are many mistakes of the current council that need to be corrected. She cited the city’s decision to purchase a Starbucks licence for Servus Credit Union Place as one example, as well as the $500,000 to study where an LRT line in St. Albert could run in the future.
“My agenda from the last campaign really hasn’t changed. I still believe the same things that were wrong then are still wrong,” Biermanski said. “Nothing has really changed in the last three years.”
She also said Crouse should not be sitting as both the chair of the Capital Region Board while he is mayor of St. Albert.
“I think people that sit for representation of their city, if they are not thinking of their city first, they are in conflict. Not to criticize, but I just see it differently.”
Biermanski, who said last week she had not yet made a decision, said she decided to announce after she received many phone calls following Crouse’s announcement he would run again.
Crouse welcomed the news, saying Biermanski’s decision to run as “good for democracy.” As for being in a conflict of interest as chair of the Capital Region Board, Crouse said he is always thinking of his city.
“I think that my first obligation is to the community, to the city of St. Albert,” Crouse said. “One of the advantages the chair has that no one else has is to be able to represent the community in a very public and open and professional body.
“But I haven’t seen her at any (Capital Region Board) meetings so I don’t know how she would judge that.”
Candidates must file their nomination papers Sept. 23. Election day is Oct. 21.
