WESTLOCK – With nine years of experience in the position, Bert Seatter is looking to once again sit as Division 7 councillor in the upcoming Oct. 18 municipal election after incumbent Dennis Primeau announced he would not be running.
Seatter began his municipal politics career in 2004 before stepping down in 2013. He tried to run again in 2017 but was unsuccessful.
Balancing the needs and wants of the county are his top priorities as he hopes to make use of his nine years of experience in municipal politics.
“The all-encompassing part of a division and the county is understanding that resources need to be spread around and that’s something the county is responsible for,” Seatter said, Sept. 24. “It’s trying to figure out the best use of money. You’ll never get total agreement with any decision you make regardless of the issue, that’s the whole idea of being on council. Knowing how to keep those services going that people depend on. Every service that you provide there’s a group of people that think it’s the most important thing a councillor should do.”
With nearly a decade of experience, Seatter has developed an understanding of both provincial and federal policies important for getting grants. He also notes that councillors need to be aware of the myriad of other operations within the county that may go unnoticed.
“It is important because a share of our grant money comes from the province, and some comes federally. Our gas tax comes federally and it’s a substantial amount. We also have enough rivers that run through our county that Oceans and Fisheries is involved, which councillors need to make themselves aware of.”
While initially not planning to run, Seatter says he saw that there was only one candidate and decided to put his name forward at the last minute to run.
“Part of the reason I’m running now is because there was only one candidate and I thought that they should have somebody run against them, it’s just good politics. I’m still quite interested in what happens in the county.”
The other Division 7 candidate is Christine Wiese.
