Cathy Heron is a woman.
As a St. Albert city council candidate, Heron drew a lot of criticism for stating that obvious fact at a public forum. But now that she's a sitting councillor, she's making an impression with her colleagues for reasons that have nothing to do with gender.
"Her level of knowledge is just superior to anyone who has been a rookie," said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
"I became really impressed with her depth of knowledge during budget," Crouse said. "She's just highly in tune with everything that is going on."
As a mother of three school-aged children, Heron has a complex act juggling parenthood with school involvement and her council duties, which she said consumes about 40 hours a week.
"There's nothing about her that shows that she's taking any shortcuts," Crouse said. "She looks like she's balancing it all very well which, by the way, is where I thought she would be tested."
Heron is one of four new members of council, which saw two incumbents retire and two ousted by voters.
Fellow rookie Cam MacKay, who often views issues differently, said Heron is good at thinking through issues and coming at them from a different angle.
"Every now and then she'll come up with something that's quite clever that I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure how she comes up with it but I do get impressed by that from time to time," MacKay said.
One example that sticks out in MacKay's mind was Heron's suggestion that organics waste subscriptions could work on a sliding scale.
"That's what you need. You need somebody that's going to dig," MacKay said.
Coun. Roger Lemieux credited Heron for her high energy and degree of preparedness.
"She's a real buzz and she has a sense of humour and she really has the city at heart. From what I can see there's no personal agendas," he said.
Lemieux even suggested that politics might be Heron's calling.
"If she continues on and she wants a political career, I think she's got opportunities that are endless," he said.
Eye opener
Heron studied environmental science at the University of Alberta and NAIT and worked as a biologist. She was chair of the community services advisory board and a member of the RCMP board.
New councillors always face a steep learning curve. Heron said her learning hasn't been focused on the city's operation or programs but rather the dynamics of politics.
"I find it hard to deal with some of the negative comments that come to council. We try our best to please 100 per cent of the population but you never can and even one or two dissenters makes me feel bad," she said. "I want to please everybody but I guess that's something I'm learning is you can't please everybody all the time.
"You sometimes think it's all going to be sunshine and rainbows but it's not always that way."
Heron said she tries to bring the perspective of the everyday family raising children to council.
Another eye opener for her has been the dynamics between council and city administration.
"I thought everybody would be one big happy united team," Heron said. "There is a very thick line between council and administration. I guess it sort of has to be that way. They run the city. We're the ones accountable to the people."
"I thought it would be elected [officials] and staff and we'd all go arm-in-arm out for a beer after council but I haven't seen a lot of that yet."
