OLDS — Former Olds town councillor Rudy Durieux says there are three main reasons he is running for a seat on council in the Jan. 20 byelection.
He enjoyed his time on council before and would like to get back into it. Also he loves the community and wants to contribute to it.
Durieux, a former school principal, is among three people who have thrown their hats in the ring so far. The others are law firm bookkeeper Sundai Cody and Olds Institute executive director Mitch Thomson.
The byelection was called to replace Wade Bearchell, who resigned from council Oct. 22 for personal reasons. The deadline to file nominations at town hall for the byelection is noon Dec. 9.
Durieux served one term on council from 2013 to 2017. He ran again in 2017 but was not elected.
“That’s one of my motivations for going back and wanting to be on council,” he said in an interview. “I think we worked well as a council. I think we got a lot of things done and there’s still more to do.
“It was just a great opportunity. I enjoyed working with the people and drawing closer to the people in town too. We got to work with businesses and organizations and bylaws and just the whole gamut of things,” he added.
“I love being here in Olds and I love the people in Olds. We have a great town and people want to see our town flourish and I think council can help that by promoting several different initiatives.”
Durieux and his wife Wendy have lived in Olds for 30 years.
During that time, they’ve been active in the community. Rudy was on the Westview Co-op board of directors for 10 years, as president for three years.
He’s been on the Municipal Planning Commission for more than two years and is currently its chair.
He and Wendy help out with food drives and Meals on Wheels. They also participate in the annual town cleanup.
Rudy also coached high school football for 15 years.
Durieux said if elected, he would push to keep tax increases to the cost of living or less – ideally less than two per cent -- a figure he says he pushed for when on council previously.
“I mean there are services people require, right? Fire, police, ambulance, roads, water, wastewater, all those kinds of things. And that’s concerning, because those things are not getting cheaper; they’re getting more expensive,” Durieux said.
“So how do we as a council try to get that fine point so that it doesn’t affect the people too deeply?”
He also wants to see more affordable housing in the community because he believes that would attract more people to live in town.
He said he also wants to keep and attract small businesses in Olds as well as attract big businesses to the community.
Durieux also said he’d press councillors to work harder at consulting with the public on initiatives or issues.
Durieux conceded the town already undertakes public engagement on various matters but he thinks it can be done to a greater degree.
“Now, we don’t get hordes and hordes of people, but at least we get some ideas of what people are thinking about that. And I think we need to do that,” he said.
