Castlegar News sent the following questions to each city council candidate. Candidates were given 100 words maximum per question. Answers appear as they were submitted, unless they were shortened for being over the 100-word limit.
There are seven candidates running for six seats: Darcy Bell, Brian Bogle, Sandy Bojechko, Shirley Falstead, Sue Heaton-Sherstibitoff, Cherryl MacLeod and Florio Vassilakakis.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Cherryl MacLeod and I was elected as Councillor for the City of Castlegar in October 2018. I have lived in Castlegar most of my life and I have no desire to ever live anywhere else, I love living in Castlegar. I am a wife, mother of 4 adult children and a grandmother to 5 precious grandchildren. I have worked in the Castlegar school system for 32 years and am currently the Child & Youth Care Worker at the Robson Community School. I have been actively involved in our community most of my life and I enjoy volunteering.
What is the biggest issue you see facing the city and how would you address it?
Housing is the biggest issue in the City of Castlegar. We have done housing studies and are in the process of working with developers and organizations to build more varied types of housing for our residents. I’m excited to see these projects come to fruition.
What are your top three city priorities?
I believe that we have done a good job of informing Castlegar citizens of what is happening in our city but saying that I believe we can always improve our communication to residents. Live streaming of our council meetings has definitely helped to keep residents informed of what happens at our council table.
To continue with our plans to improve our infrastructure systems, water and sewer being the most important.
Airport reliability is definitely one of the top three of my city priorities.
How do you think the city could address the housing shortage?
We have done the studies to identify the needs of our city now it’s time to work to get the proposed projects started and to continue work on the housing assesment program.
What type of development would you like to see in our community, and what steps would you take to attract it?
I think we need to investigate changing our bylaws to allow carriage and laneway housing to increase our housing
density.
What skills or experience do you have that would make you a good councilor?
I have been in office for four years and I believe we have done some great things for our city during my time on council. I have enjoyed listening to our residents and then working to improve this incredible city that I will always call home.
I am a good communicator and I do my research before I vote at the council table to ensure that I understand the issues we are being asked to vote on.
Why should local residents vote for you?
I am a strong advocate for our city, I enjoy spending my time working towards making Castlegar an even more amazing community for us all to live in.
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