A second member of Lloydminster City Council has confirmed they will not be running for re-election.
Councillor Linnea Goodhand, who was elected in the municipal election of 2012 and has lived in the Border City since 1998, has told 106.1 The Goat that she will decline to run for office in 2016. She also said she and her husband will be leaving the community in November, to live closer to their children.
Goodhand will be shutting down her law practice, which operates out of a downtown office, and said she was looking down the “pipe of retirement.” As for how she views the past four years, she indicated there were no specific high points to refer to.
“I’m really happy I decided to run, really happy that the citizens chose to elect me,” said Goodhand.
“I’ve enjoyed most of it, loved getting to learn how the city operates. I’ve met some tremendous people, through my role as a city councilor both in the city and outside the city.”
As for any areas where Goodhand wished things could have been handled differently, one in particular stood out.
“I hate to re-open this issue, because I certainly wish that it had been closed a lot sooner, and more tightly, but the Mulligan resignation, the AHHA Moments contract, the way I handled the disclosure, all of that could have done better,” said Goodhand.
“It could have been done faster, it could have been done with more transparency, and it could have been done much sooner in the term. I will have some regrets about not being more aggressive about getting that out, and owning it, as a city, because I think it has tainted, to some degree, our term. I regret that, and I resent that, too, because it shouldn’t have.”
Goodhand said there had been a lot of great work done by both municipal administration and city council over the past four years. However, she also said she felt that the City was constantly trying to overcome the negative repercussions of the AHHA Moments Inc. contract.
Despite the resolution to not run again, Goodhand said she plans to honour the rest of her term, and play a role in the municipal election.
“We’ve got six or eight weeks left of actual work, associated with the city,” said Goodhand.
“I would like to be a participant in the campaign, I’d like to see people elected who deserve the job, and I’d like to see people who are going to serve this city well, put their names forward. I’ve been kind of behind the scenes, trying to encourage people to run, and trying to lend support to those who I think are worthy of the voters support.”
Goodhand also expressed a desire to participate in the transition from the current government to the next, due to remaining neutral by not seeking office.
“It’s a huge learning curve, and I think all that we can do to make that learning curve occur more quickly I think will be helpful for the city,” said Goodhand.
After her impending move, Goodhand said she does not plan to run for office in another community in the future.
A full list of confirmed candidates in the municipal election will be issued on September 22.