A Sturgeon Valley councillor has become the first person to officially enter the county’s 2021 electoral race.
Sturgeon County resident and Div. 2 Coun. Kristin Toms filed her nomination papers Feb. 23 to run for re-election in the 2021 county municipal election. While the election itself isn’t until Oct. 18, residents were able to register to run in it as of Jan. 4.
Toms was elected in a by-election Sept. 17, 2019, and currently serves as deputy mayor. She said she decided to file early as she had been getting a lot of questions about her intentions as she spoke to residents about the Sturgeon Valley area structure plan.
Toms said her experience as a councillor and background in business and finance make her suitable for re-election.
“I’m super-connected to my residents,” she said, and gave quick, honest responses to their concerns.
Toms said she is extremely proud of her work to bring a traffic circle to the Starkey and Sturgeon Road intersection near St. Albert, as it had significantly improved traffic safety. She is also working to get the road in front of the Protective Services Building paved to improve emergency response times. She also made a motion that led council to provide struggling county community groups some $90,000 through a one-time COVID-relief grant.
While county council got a lot done last year to support residents, Toms said the pandemic has created a bit of a backlog for many issues, and that there are still many gaps to fill in her division when it comes to transportation infrastructure and good-neighbour laws.
“There is a lot of work still to do and I want to be there to do it.”
Toms said her top priority if re-elected would be to improve the county’s road networks and draw more jobs to the region to keep taxes low.
“I’m not somebody who kicks the can down the road when a problem arises. I do my best to get it fixed and fixed as quickly as possible.”
Toms said she will focus on governance for the rest of her term and has no plans to start campaigning before nominations close on Sept. 20. Council also passed a law last month that banned the use of municipal election signs prior to the close of nominations, she noted.
Visit sturgeoncounty.ca for details on this fall’s municipal election.
