With the federal election behind us, people are now turning their attention to the upcoming municipal election and Alberta Municipalities has launched a resource campaign for those considering to run in their local election.

ABmuni’s President and Mayor for the City of Wetaskiwin Tyler Gandam says the campaign, which includes videos from the organization’s board, resource guides and one-hour information sessions, is useful because the first election can be eye-opening.

“Even though, you know, you think you do as much research into it as you can, you attend council meetings, the actual time commitment that goes along with it and the amount of reading that goes along with it is enough to scare lots of people,” Gandam says. “I think it’s really important that we started this campaign so that people had a really good understanding of what they were getting into and going into it with their eyes wide open.”

He explains he has gone through three elections so far in his career and one of the most important things he says he learned during his first election was the power of communication. Getting out, getting involved and being engaged is important and something that can be done even on council, but once someone is voted onto council that importance and work is amplified.  He says for those who are lucky enough to be voted mayor or reeve of a community that magnification increases even more.

“Everybody’s interested in talking to the mayor or having the mayor attend their events, and you can spread yourself pretty thin if you aren’t careful. So, just making sure that you’re prioritizing things, being completely open and transparent with your residents on, what you want to be able to do, what you want to attend, making sure they know their events are important, and at least a member of council is attending.”

He adds he has learned over his three terms, even when you think you are over-communicating “you’re still not hitting the mark at least half the time.”

The new campaign from AB Muni’s is focused on helping those interested in running for local office be aware of what what role they will play if they are successfully voted in.

“We’ve seen a lot of divisiveness in North American politics with the election in the United States, the Canadian federal election, the differences in each of the provinces and those orders of government that are trying to manage very clearly unprecedented times. So, I think the other thing that we’re trying to do with this campaign is to make sure that people understand that it’s not always like that, it’s not always divisive, and especially at the municipal level, we can lead by example.”

Earlier this year AB Muni’s held a summit on civility and Grandam says that is an important topic because he believes it is up to municipal leaders to lead by example and show the other orders of government how to debate the policy and not the person.

More information about the AB Muni’s campaign can be found here.