Former deputy fire chief enters council race

Webster is one of at least two public servants running for a seat in the municipal election. Mayoral candidate Linnsie Clark is a city solicitor who took a leave of absence in order to run. Council candidate Warren Pister is a retired rural RCMP officer.

Webster told CHAT News he believes more public servants are stepping forward, due to their experience and love for their community.

“They have a vested interest in the city. If they are working here and living here, they have a vested interest in what is best for the city, not what is best for each other, and that’s the important thing is we need to look at what is best for the city,” he says.

A key area of Webster’s platform is ensuring the city’s utilities stay put, and do not get sold off. In January, the city said in a press release that they are exploring commercial opportunities for its power generation when economic advantages are evident, leading to speculation that the city’s public utility could sell. Webster says that would not good for the city.

“Through the years we have spent millions and millions of dollars, upgrading infrastructure and creating an efficient power system. We now have the capacity to generate more power than we need,” he says.

Webster says he offers a common-sense approach to leadership and that there are many areas of the city that need to be addressed, including downtown revitalization.

“They have had six different agencies working on different visions and there is no one plan. I would like to see it facilitated where everybody comes together and develops one plan to move ahead,” Webster said.

He also takes issue with what is planned for the proposed waterfront development district, including the proposed closure of River Road. As a former fire service member, he said River Road is important to ensure access for emergency vehicles.

Throughout his career, Webster has done many rescues on the South Saskatchewan River, and questions some of the logic behind the design.

“Building stairs down to the river is definitely a bad idea. I’ve gone to too many body recoveries, and had to sit with people, as we had to look for their loved ones in the river,” he said.

Webster said he would like the city to be more fiscally responsible and believes more needs to be done to attract young families. Part of that attraction he said, is recreation.

The City of Medicine Hat is currently in the process of building its recreation master plan, a plan that looks at what the future of recreation will look like in years to come. The city has been discussing the possibility of closing aging facilities, such as the Moose Rec Centre and the Crestwood Pool in order to save money. There have also been talks about building a multi-complex facility down the road as a replacement.

“One of the goals is to attract young families to Medicine Hat and if you are closing recreation facilities, that isn’t going to help things. If you build large multi-complexes in the north area of town, there’s no bus service out there. It is just not a good idea to be closing recreation facilities, and now we are seeing that they are starting to downsize public playground areas for the kids. That needs to be revisited,” he said.

The municipal election takes place Oct. 18

by Tiffany Goodwein

Former deputy fire chief enters council race

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