BURSTThe Oct. 8 all candidates forum at the Della Herman Theatre was mostly civil and respectful. Aside from a few rebuttals, the panel of 12 candidates stuck to the issues.
Transparency, the new library project and improving aging infrastructure were all hot topics as the two mayoral candidates, councillor incumbent John Buikema and newcomer Robert Judzentis went head to head.
Also in the ring were eight councillor candidates vying for one of the six spots on Smithers council and two candidates for the one RDBN electoral A director position.
Transparency
The most prominent and talked about topic of the night was transparency, or what some felt was a lack of transparency.
When councillor candidate Scott Marko was asked a question about when the town could have been more transparent, he said specifically around homelessness and the overnight shelter issue.
“That was one that was kind of forced down the throat of the residents in the area without any consultation previous to decisions being made from BC Housing Board Council,” he said.
“Another one would be the location of the encampment. There was multiple debates about where the encampment could go after that point, and of course everybody, you know, didn’t want to see it in their neighbourhood. Understandable, but there was no discussion with the business and retail community downtown before the encampment was put downtown.”
Later in the evening, Marko also mentioned he knew from his experience trying to find information to research for the election campaign that he found the town’s website to be clunky and hard to access exact information.
Incumbent councillor candidate Laura Leonard used her rebuttal card to respond to that.
“We do everything we can to be transparent about finances. We have public finance committee meetings. We have public council meetings. Every one of you is invited to attend. Every one of you is invited to live stream,” she said.
“If anyone actually did that, you would get all the information that you need. My belief is that staff and council is very transparent about how we spend, where the money is going, the decisions we’re making, and you can go and look it up anytime you like.”
Thomas Camus also mentioned he thought there could be more transparency when it comes to council.
“We have to follow where our tax dollars go,” he mentioned during his opening statement.
New Library
The new library project was also mentioned by multiple people throughout the night.
Both the mayoral candidates have differing views on the town’s decision to purchase the old Heartstrings Building on Third Avenue with the goal to renovate it for a new library.
Buikema said he knows there’s been criticism of the cost of the library, but said the library plays a really foundational role in the community.
“I’ve served on the library board for eight years, and when you see the statistics at year end as to how many uses the library gets, It’s phenomenal. I know lots of people are excited about the new library.” He also mentioned it was less money to renovate a building than build new.
However, Judzentis said he has a problem with the money being spent on the project.
“I talked to a contractor in town and asked what it would cost to build the building that the town purchased, ready to move in, and the price was being four and a half million dollars done, complete move in without any renovations, and my understanding is for where you guys are with the purchase and the renovations, you’re getting a million and a half over that,” he said.
Incumbent Councillor Frank Wray mentioned after Judzentis that it isn’t easy to build through the public process and the town has needed a new library for years.
“You can’t just talk to a guy and ask him to build the building. Unfortunately, we’d have to purchase land. We have to go to architects to professionally design the building for us,” he said. “We’ve needed a library since I’ve been on council [2008]. The building’s been in bad shape, and we put it off, put it off, put it off, and it gets more expensive.”
Another incumbent councillor running, Calvin Elliott agreed the building is needed for the community.
“It’s a great building. It’s a great space. It adds to our community. It adds to why people want to live in Smithers as well. So we have a great community, and we’re going to have a great library,” he said.
Infrastructure
Taking care of the town’s aging infrastructure was also noted by many candidates.
Councillor candidate Murrary Hawse said he didn’t think the town would be in the position they are now if the long-term planning had really been done and the financing had been set aside for a lot of these projects.
“Now we’re looking for the money to do things, and a lot of the projects we do, they actually have need. We have to prioritize things. We have to be responsible for the spending of our tax credit dollars. I pay taxes.”
Incumbent Councillor Sam Raven noted the importance of the Resource Benefits Alliance (RBA) funding for infrastructure projects.
“The provincial government took some of the resource monies and gave it to local municipalities all across the region. So that’s how we got $20 million. That’s how we were able to do the CN Water Main and a lot of other infrastructure projects. If we don’t invest in our assets before they fail. We end up having the issues that Prince Rupert has, which is over $100 million for water,” she said while noting the importance of fighting for the continuation of the RBA funding, and having it tied to inflation.
Property taxes
The topic of property taxes was also mentioned periodically through out the night.
When a question was posed about how the tax rate should be spilt between residences and business, incumbent councillor candidate Genevieve Paterson mentioned how much the local business community does for the community.
“I want to see Smithers assess a long-term taxation model that is fair and sustainable for both residents and businesses. We live in a circular economy. Businesses give so much to all of us, but there’s no other way to go about doing it,” she said. “If we don’t support small business, we don’t support our community. I will continue to prioritize our economic development plan, including identified or top priorities, identified what the business community specifically asked for.”
RDBN
Also at the table, were two candidates for Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako Area A director.
Colin Kerr said In his closing statement that in simplest terms, he doesn’t put himself forward as somebody who thinks that things have been done wrong to this point.
“I am only coming forward as a candidate for renewal and refreshment. Our valley is a beautiful place. We’ve got a lot of opportunities coming our way, and we need to take the best advantage of that,” he said.
The incumbent director Stoney Stoltenberg first thanked Kerr for putting his name forward as he was acclaimed in the last election.
“Anything that we can do to make life better for the people who live in a rural area, and that includes fighting the system to keep our taxes low,” he added. “But people who live in a rural area are really resilient. We don’t need all of the regulations and everything that you get when you live in town, so consequently, I look forward to making sure that that doesn’t happen, that we don’t get so encumbered with rules and regulations that we find it difficult to live out in the rural area.”
Voting Day
General voting day is Oct. 17.
In Smithers, voting will take place at Muheim Memorial Elementary School, 3659 3rd Avenue, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voters require ID to cast a ballot.