The head of Morinville’s library board has stepped up to run in this fall’s town council election.
Jenn Anheliger, chair of the Morinville Library Board, announced her bid to run for Morinville town council Sept. 7.
A bookkeeper and 11-year Morinville resident, Anheliger has been an active volunteer in Morinville for about seven years. She is currently chair of the town’s community services advisory committee and a member of the École Morinville Public and Four Winds Public school councils, and has previously served on the town’s municipal planning commission.
Anheliger said she first got the idea to run for office in 2016 when she spoke to town officials about the stench of rotting vegetation in the Heritage Village stormwater pond. Wanting to serve her community, she spent the next six years volunteering on boards and committees to learn about policy and leadership.
“This isn’t something I’ve decided to do on a whim,” Anheliger said of her council bid.
“This is something I’ve known I wanted to do for a long time, and I’ve spent six years preparing myself for the role.”
Anheliger said she loved working with a wide mix of people through community boards and learned a lot about policies, procedures, and the community in the process. She said her background in finance should also come in handy on council.
If elected, Anheliger said she will work to improve the town’s engagement with volunteers and the community.
“Oftentimes it’s viewed that engagement happens, but we don’t get that full circle,” she said, in that people talk to town officials during consultations but don’t see how that talk affects the town’s actions.
Anheliger envisions a more collaborative approach to policy making that will emphasize measures such as focus groups over surveys.
"We need to empower our community and make sure they feel valued.”
Anheliger said she will also seek to draw more value-added agricultural companies to Morinville to capitalize on the town’s easy access to road, rail, and air networks, and improve the town’s residential/non-residential tax split while protecting its small-town feel. She also hopes to save money through inter-municipal collaboration.
Nominations for the 2021 Morinville election are due Sept. 20. Visit www.morinville.ca/en/town-hall/election.aspx for details.
