OLDS – A new candidate has thrown his hat in the ring to run for town council.
Curtis Cook, 32, a financial planner and senior advisor at a local bank, confirmed last week his intention to run for councillor.
“I am running as a councillor, rather than as mayor,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
“The time commitment as mayor would be a bit too high, especially with me already employed, but the councillor seat seemed the best fit.”
Cook was born in Cochrane, grew up in Didsbury and area and has lived in Olds since 2019.
In addition to being a chartered financial planner, Cook has a degree in medical biochemistry.
Cook said his decision to run for council was the result of a conversation with friends late last year.
“We were talking about some things about the town that didn’t seem to be very optimal,” he said.
“One of them said kind of in jest, that ‘well if we don’t like it, we should run as councillors.’ I thought to myself and I decided to take it seriously.”
Cook said examples of those problems include increased spending, which he describes as “inflationary,” along with aging sewer, water and road infrastructure and sports facilities.
“I think with my financial background and what I hope to be able to bring to the table I should be able to steer the town in the right direction; hopefully pursuing more of a fiduciary role and see what we can do there,” he said.
It was noted that the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) funding the town receives from the provincial government will fall. 2.5 per cent next year. That is expected to limit the number of projects the town can undertake.
Cook was asked how he would handle that situation.
“I think that’s exactly why we do need to start looking at some more creative approaches for what might be possible, especially if we’re looking at more long-term solutions,” Cook said.
“Because we can keep putting band aids on things and it’s going to keep costing the town and its citizens quite a bit. It might hurt in the short term, but in the long term it’ll be huge cost savings to the town.”
Cook said examples of creative approaches he has in mind would be doing work with partners and “some kind of a shifting of the budget to hopefully be able to reallocate resources so that the long term finances of the town can be brought to a better place.”
He said that’s because “right now it seems like we are trying to combat things as they come up rather than having a more concrete plan for the future.”
Cook also believes there are inefficiencies in the way the town operates and he’d like to tackle those.
Cook has been a member of the Olds Municipal Library board for about five years. The library has a couple of patches of lawn. He cited lawn maintenance as an example of those inefficiencies.
“When we are trying to put the burden on individual facilities where they don’t have the economies of scale, the equipment, it ends up costing those kinds of organizations more than if the town is able to do it themselves,” he said.
“Of course, if we’re able to share those kinds of expenses it is going to be more efficient for everybody as well, even if that is going to be a bit more of the town’s responsibility. Then we can share with those kind of partners in the cost of those as well.”
In addition to serving on the library board, Cook also volunteers at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105 when special events are held.
