Cheryl Ross wants to know what is impacting the Border City.
Ross, who declared her intentions to run for the mayor’s seat in the early days of 2016, has been campaigning in earnest for the last few weeks, with signs up in parts of Lloydminster. She sat down with 106.1 The Goat on Thursday to discuss what she would do, if elected to City Hall.
According to Ross, her first priority would be to bring together both the newly-elected city council members and the city administration, in order to figure out what the most pressing issue facing the community would be.
“Having said that, my reasoning behind that is because we can read things in the media, we can hear things on the radio, we can listen to the banter on social media, but first and foremost, if elected, I want to hear face to face from administration, department heads, directors, managerial, whatever that might look like,” said Ross.
Ross indicated that the wastewater treatment plant and the purchase of the downtown Synergy Credit Union building were two such issues, in her mind. She also indicated that she viewed the current city administration as “top-heavy”.
“I firmly believe that we need to sit down as the newly elected mayor and council and discuss with administration what’s working, what’s not,” said Ross.
“I wonder, often, are we recognizing that we’re still 30,000 people? It appears from the outside, looking in, for myself, that we’re trying to live like we’re 55 or more thousand people. I question, maybe, that’s why it appears we’re top-heavy.”
Ross also said she would want to see increased accountability, with a focus on after-travel reporting, if elected.
“People, they want to know, they want to know why we’re going stateside, they want to know why they’re going to workshops, leadership conventions, and things of that nature,” said Ross.
“It needs to be communicated. It needs mayor and council to sit down with administrators and collaborate on what that looks like. It needs to come out to the public, the people who are paying the bills, including myself, what are you bringing back, to our community, from being sent out to be educated and professionally developed? That can come from many angles, whether it’s a written report, whether it’s something in our local media where we allot time once they’ve come back to sit down.”
Ross said she had been alarmed to learn about the travel habits of the City, and expressed surprise about the distances being travelled.
As for the purchase of the downtown Synergy Credit Union building, Ross said she had been “floored” that the outgoing council had approved the move, and was in “absolute disfavour” of the purchase.
For the next three weeks, Ross plans on volunteering, and remaining in the public eye. She will be in attendance at the Chamber of Commerce forum held on the evening of October 18.
The voting day for the municipal election takes place on October 26.