Allan Kersch sees Chestermere as a city full of potential for both families and businesses.
“Chestermere’s potential to lead as a place where people want to live and businesses want to locate is apparent,” he said.
“We have a great community with amenities and opportunities that would make other communities envious,” said Kersch.
By running for council, Kersch said he is ready to do his best to help the city realize that potential.
Kersch has lived in the city for the past ten years, enjoying barbecues with his large extended family.
“Barbecuing is considered an adventure in our family,” he said, “we hunt for new recipes, enjoy the prepare time, the social part of actually Barbecuing and finally the feast.”
His life in the city has shown Kersch both the potential and the challenges in the city’s future.
“Both of these need to be thoughtfully evaluated and used to create a road map to guide us forward,” he said.
Kersch believes that Chestermere needs to “rebuild our road map” with a focus on ensuring the city is attractive to both families and businesses.
While there are many issues to be addressed, Kersch realizes that if he is elected he is one voice on a council of seven.
“I cannot take any action without the support of the majority of my Council team members,” he said.
It is his hope that he will be able to build consensus and compromise with his fellow councillors to address several key issues.
His priorities if elected include; hiring a qualified Chief Administrative Officer, conducting a city cost review, rebuilding the relationship with Rocky View County, getting a city representative on CUI’s Board, an evaluation of the business park plans, work with school boards and provincial partners to expedite school construction, working towards senior assisted living in Chestermere, and conduct a review of traffic patterns in the city.
Working towards these priorities will help to address the biggest challenge facing Chestermere; affordability.
“Affordability is a key issue that Chestermere is facing,” said Kersch.
The increasing costs both at the city and CUI need to be reviewed. Cost reductions paired with growth in the commercial tax base are needed to make Chestermere a more affordable community to live in.
While he has no previous political experience, Kersch does have 28 years’ experience as a senior executive in the private sector.
“In the private sector, you deal with corporate governance which is a set of rules that guides a company in serving their stakeholders.
“City governance will be similar but the stakeholders will be different,” he said.
As the campaign begins in earnest now that all candidates have filed their nomination papers, Kersch is looking forward to meeting Chestermerians at forums and other public venues in the coming weeks.
He wants to “shake hands with as many residents as possible so we can talk about our City’s great amenities and challenges.”
“I would like them to see my enthusiasm, passion for bettering our community,” he said.
Regardless of who is successful on election day Kersch hopes they will remember to take their responsibilities seriously.
“For those candidates that are elected, remember you just won the trust of a significant number of residents,” he said.
For more information on Kersch and his campaign go to www.alkersch4council.ca or email him questions at arkersch@gmail.com.
