Ryan Roch has decided that it is time to stop complaining and take up a more active role for change in Chestermere with a run for mayor.
“I needed to stop complaining…it became time I needed to put up or shut up,” said Roch.
“I decided…I needed to put my hat in the ring,” he said.
He has been working behind the scenes, as he describes it, since the CUI meeting that led to the petition asking for the Minister of Municipal affairs to investigate city council’s handling of the affair.
“I went around at that time collecting signatures…and I’ve been working with a lot of people involved with that,” he said.
His decision to run for mayor came last month after he looked through the list of candidates for mayor and felt that no one knew the issues well enough.
“I just wasn’t happy with what I was seeing,” he said.
“There was a lot of people who didn’t know the issues or who weren’t familiar with them or the real nuance of them and the research that I was,” he said.
That being said, Roch feels that the list of candidates for both mayor and council is full of talented smart people.
“I think there’s some wonderful candidates who are running for council,” said Roch.
When making his decision to run for mayor, Roch considered the skills he has and decided that he could make the most impact as mayor rather than as a member of council.
“People on council have an absolute critical part to play and the mayor has a critical part to play,” he said.
He is experienced working in a leadership role in a telecommunications company in Calgary and feels that leadership makes him a good candidate for Mayor.
If he is successful and elected mayor in October, Roch said his priorities will be to fix CUI, find savings in city operations and work to negotiate a solution to a looming school shortage in the city.
“One of the ones that is really near and dear to me that I’m really concerned about is schools,” he said, “and the overcrowding that is right now affecting the rocky view county schools that are here.”
Roch said that if something isn’t done to address the schools issue, there is a risk that kids from Chestermere will have to be bused to school in Calgary.
He realizes that working on the schools issue will take a lot of hard work and collaboration with both the school boards and the province.
“We need to address it,” said Roch.
“It’s along the same lines in my eyes as the seriousness of CUI and city operations,” he said.
His focus on these issues, especially the schools, makes him, he thinks, stand out from the other candidates for mayor.
Like the candidates for council though he feels he is facing strong competition.
“I think they have a lot to offer,” he said, “I feel they lack on is the exposure to issues really affecting Chestermere.”
He said that what the new council is going to need is really good leadership to navigate the issues.
“I have a lot of excellent experience in leadership,” said Roch.
He said that it is going to take more than one term to turn things around in the city and he believes he is the right person for the job.
“I feel like I know the issues here in Chestermere, I feel I can speak well of issues here,” said Roch.
