Former Division 4 Red Deer County councillor and current candidate Dave Hoar is looking to trim the County bureaucracy.
“One of my major concerns is the size of the bureaucracy of Red Deer County,” he said. “When I served before, we had 59 employees and now it is in the order of 90.”
Hoar said he has many concerns regarding the direction of the County and hopes his experience will allow him to get things done right away if he is elected.
“I understand the process and the relationship between council, the CAO and the staff,” he said. “Hopefully I can get on council and go straight to work.”
Crime and safety are other concerns Hoar has regarding the entirety of Red Deer County.
“We have a municipal police service and I would like to see them focus on rural crime,” he said. “I believe presently, they are concentrating on traffic enforcement. Not that traffic enforcement isn’t important but I think their presence in the community would be well appreciated.”
Hoar also believes the RCMP needs to be seen throughout the County as a deterrent for criminals.
“Crime goes to the easy areas and if there is police of any sort on the roads, it becomes uncomfortable for criminals to apply their trade,” he said. “Red Deer County is also paying for an RCMP officer, so I think our municipal police could work hand in hand with him.”
Development and infrastructure are two facets of the County that need to be managed effectively in the upcoming term, according to Hoar.
“I think the gravel-road infrastructure needs attention,” he said. “In 2010, we had a report from Tagish Engineering which stated to maintain the gravel-road infrastructure, you need to rebuild about 10 miles per year. Certainly in this area, they are not meeting that standard.”
Ensuring infrastructure needs are met, without significantly raising taxes is the balancing act, according to Hoar.
“At what level of taxation do you have to have to maintain all the programs the County has,” he said. “Maybe we should be concentrating on infrastructure and some of the nicer stuff may have to put on the back-burner.”
Being able to ensure the County is managing its money effectively is something Hoar believes his ideals match up with.
“I am certainly a fiscal conservative. I come from a farm background and having managed that, I know how important it is to stay within your means and generate a profit,” he said.
Hoar believes that the role of council is to ensure a wide perspective is being considered.
“We can get all the views out on the table and presented and then we come together and make a decision,” he said. “Once the decision is made, we support that decision even if personally we think it didn’t go the way it could go.”
Hoar has no concerns about council coming to decisions together in the next term.
“I know a number of the people who will be there—there were two acclamations,” he said. “I am sure we will have a good working relationship with the rest of council no matter who it happens to be.”
He added County residents should vote for him because, “I am willing to stand up and present my views. I will be an active member of council.”
todd.vaughan@reddeerexpress.com
Like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RedDeerExpress/ and follow us on twitter at https://twitter.com/RedDeerExpress.
