Another council candidate has tossed their name into the ring.
Glenn Fagnan, a longtime resident of the Border City, has decided to take a run at a seat on Lloydminster City Council. Fagnan has previously been active in the community in both business and volunteer ventures, serving as the chairman of the Lloydminster Economic Development Corporation, as well as president of the Chamber of Commerce.
With these past roles in mind, Fagnan described his move to run for office as a “natural progression.”
“With my involvement in the community, I guess I’ve shown that I truly do care, and this is just a natural progression into showing that I care further,” said Fagnan.
In an interview conducted on Tuesday afternoon, Fagnan outlined two key policy items he is looking to bring forward in the race.
The first, being the creation of a public transit system for the Border City, has previously been examined by the municipal government.
The Let’s Talk Transit survey, conducted in 2014, found that a transit system would have low ridership, and residents of the community wouldn’t want to pay highly for the service. While Fagnan only gave general details of his transit idea, he did mention his experience with the Lloydminster Handivan, a non-profit transit service operating in Lloydminster.
“Because of my affiliation with the Lloydminster Handivan, we’re going to look at a made-in-Lloydminster transit system,” said Fagnan.
He said he had spoken with contacts in North Battleford on the matter, and that the municipal government had also expressed a willingness to work with the Handivan Society. He also said the service would start with three units, and develop from there.
The second policy Fagnan outlined was a desire to make changes to the way city council is provided information, as well as how meetings of council are run.
“One of the key things that I see we have a problem with right now is communications, and that would be more so in the way that the meetings are held,” said Fagnan.
“I know that they used to have a meeting of the whole, and they would discuss what was going to be on the agenda for the council meeting ahead of time. The council meetings that I have gone, they’ve seemed very rough.”
Fagnan said he would want to see council having more time to evaluate the information given to them by administration. He also said he had spoken with past and current members of city council on the matter.
“The information they (council members) get on a Wednesday or a Thursday, and there’s 400 pages, and they just don’t have the time to really go through that very fine and comprehend,” said Fagnan.
“When they do have questions, a lot of times you’ve got your managers over a weekend, and you can’t get ahold of them. I would take a look at doing something different.”
As for how his campaign would proceed in the coming weeks, Fagnan said he will be getting assistance in putting up signs around the city, as well as some printed advertising in local newspapers. He also will be setting up social media channels for the campaign. Beyond those plans, the campaign is still under development.
“I’m by no means a politician, but I think I do care for this city, and I’d like to be the voice of common sense,” said Fagnan.
A full list of confirmed candidates for the municipal election will be released on September 22.
