A Morinville businessman says he plans to let his name stand for re-election to council this fall.
Town resident Sheldon Fingler told the Gazette last week that he plans to run for re-election in this fall’s civic election. First elected last fall in a by-election, he currently sits on council.
Fingler, 40, is a married father of three and owner of Infinite Event Services, an event planning company that, among other jobs, provides the audio-visual services for Capital Region Board meetings. He is also an active member of the local chamber of commerce.
“I think we need more business minded people running for council,” he said. He tracks every dollar in and out of his business and takes that same approach with council, carefully scrutinizing budget items to see if they should stay or go. “When people treat money like it’s their own, they’re more cautious as to how it’s spent.”
Fingler said his 10 years with the town’s public works division taught him the value and needs of each department. “I know (the town) from the guy digging in the trenches to the guy sitting on council.”
Fingler said it’s tough for him to point to specific accomplishments from his time on council, as he’s been in office for less than a year, but said the biggest was likely his role in the Coeur de Morinville area structure plan. It sets the town up for growth, he said, and should be a major economic driver in years ahead.
He was also proud of his role in last fall’s budget debate. “That was a huge amount of work.” The budget still needs improvement, but council was able to keep its tax hike low despite considerable debenture payments and without sacrificing services.
“The one thing we need to challenge and address is our photo radar policies,” he said, when asked what council needed to improve. “I don’t like speeding any more than anyone else, but I like effective control of the situation.”
Fingler recently called on council to make the town’s photo radar vans clearly visible while in operation to act as a visual deterrent to speeders.
Edmonton’s radar vans are clearly marked and plastered with educational signs, he noted. “If people speed past that, the tickets are merited.” Monitoring efforts should also be focused on speeders in town, especially in school zones, rather than those leaving town.
He expected photo radar to be a big issue in this fall’s campaign, as well as budget transparency, smells from Champion Petfoods, and Cardiff Corner.
“That one’s a tough one,” he said of the latter issue, as it’s up to the province to fix the troubled intersection. He said he would continue to work with council and the chamber of commerce to press the province for a solution.
He personally believed the town’s budget process was already pretty open. “We need to challenge the residents to become more involved as well.” Council should ask residents what standards and metrics they wanted so administration could make accurate comparisons between jurisdictions.
“I’m not running because of what I don’t like,” Fingler said, when asked why people should vote for him. “I’m running because I love Morinville and I think Morinville is the place to be … I want to stay there. I want to grow old there, and I want my children to make that choice too.”
The Gazette will profile other council candidates as they come forward.
