Jesse Mould has declared he’s running for a seat of City of Fernie council in October.
Mould grew up in Fernie after moving to the area as a child in the late 80’s with his parents. After moving away for his higher education, he started a family in Fernie and works as an IT guru in town.
As a long-time resident of Fernie, Mould said he was running for city council because of his children.
“I want to make sure there’s some of Fernie left for my children,” he said in an interview with The Free Press.
“I would hate for my children to grow up and not be able to move back to Fernie after college or university.”
He said that he’d also been asked by many members of the community to throw his hat into the ring and bring his own sensibilities to the council table.
“I’ve taken it to heart, and after mulling over it for about four years I decided after seeing what’s going on now to finally do it.”
The 2022 elections will be the first time Mould has run for public office.
Mould said he wanted to make changes to the way the city handled infrastructure, listing roads, snow removal and the fire department as burning issues.
“All of our boys are camped across the tracks in a pretty uncomfortable spot,” he said of the Fernie fire departments current base on Railway Ave, adding that given most fire and rescue calls were on the highway, the location, albeit temporary, was not ideal.
He also spoke of engagement, and a desire for more community input on city business, and said that he wanted to take a magnifying glass to the municipal payroll to ensure tax dollars were being spent well.
“I want to have a more in-depth assessment done of all the personnel at the City of Fernie, making sure they in the right positions, doing the right jobs, and if they need further training and education, to make sure they get that.
“There are a lot of high salaries at (City of) Fernie (that can be) optimised to be the best of their ability.”
With the election coming up on October 15, Mould said he wanted to be there for voters both in the lead up, and after the election should he win a seat, inviting anyone interested in talking to him to set up a time. “I plan to have a very open social media platform… I will be here for you.”
READ MORE: Editor’s note: Calling all local candidates
scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
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