With family roots dating one century back, a Millarville area resident has decided to run for council.
Laura Kendall is running to represent Div. 3 at the Foothills County council table.
“I feel pretty passionately about the area just because of my history here,” said Kendall.
She has lived in Okotoks, and still owns a home and therapy business in town, but returned to Millarville to care for her father.
“I’m reconnecting with my agricultural roots and learning how to farm,” said Kendall. “I can see how hard it is for agricultural people to make a living.”
Helping out with her dad’s haying business has been an eye-opener, she said. As an entrepreneur, she said there’s an understanding of what it takes to run a business of any kind.
One of her goals on council would be to preserve the rural area and those who are part of the agriculture industry.
“I have a pretty good, grounded perspective of what’s important to keep this area rural, rather than see it turned into an urban little extension of Calgary,” said Kendall.
A large part of that work will be taking up the torch against the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB), she said.
“Their position is to try to take some of the autonomy away from the Foothills County government,” said Kendall. “I think that’s really important, probably the foremost issue, to try to fight back against that and lobby the provincial government and the City of Calgary and say that’s not the way things have been done or we’re quite capable of running things ourselves out here.”
In addition to the CMRB, she would like to look at sustainable development, which Kendall said includes planning for resilient and cost-effective infrastructure.
Infrastructure projects should be balanced with growth and development to ensure they are not costing taxpayers more than they can handle, she said.
“It can’t be raising people’s taxes to the point where folks can’t afford to live out here,” said Kendall. “It just can’t be a place for rich people to live, it still has to be sustainable for rural – your basic rural people who are out there farming and ranching, and making a living off the land.”
She said farmers have been hit particularly hard by drought the last few years, and increased costs from the municipality may not be palatable.
On the social side of the County, Kendall said she’s supporting the Millarville Historical Society’s initiative to build a museum in the region and would like to work on ways to help seniors continue to live in the Foothills rather than moving into urban centres.
“I am very much supportive of seniors being able to stay rural,” said Kendall. “Living rural, it just adds an extra dimension with travel time and roads and getting help to come out, so I understand how difficult it is for rural people to get those services and I would like to look into that.”
