A two term councillor with The Municipality of Killarney Turtle Mountain wants to be that community’s next mayor.

Janice Smith has announced she plans to have her name on the October 26th ballot for mayor. “It has been in the back of my mind since I was the interim head of council and didn’t think I was quite ready for it then. I really think I can help the community along with our new council going forward and I want to be the new mayor of Killarney.”

During her eight years on council Smith also spent time as Deputy Mayor

“I just know I care about Killarney and I just needed to have a bit of a push to make the decision and I have the support of my family and a lot of people in the community and that helped me make my decision to give it a go.”

Voters head to the election polls October 26th to elect new councils and school boards.

"Some of my priorities centre around quality health care in the community and I want to work with council and the region to make sure there is a proper compliment of doctors and nurses to operate that emergency department” said Smith.

“I also feel strongly and we’ve had discussions around the council table that we need an economic development officer here in Killarney. Hopefully we can work that out with the next budget and council so we can get someone in that position for our area. We think it’s important to promote Killarney and surrounding area with economic development.”

Janice Smith just wants to take a stab at being mayor and she feels she has a real grasp of what’s happening in and around the community. She enjoys working with not just council but all groups in the municipality.

“I’m approachable and I look forward to seeing what I can do. I feel my time on council makes me very prepared to take on the mayor’s job.”

“It’s important to work as a team because that’s what it’s all about. Being head of council and that means I speak for council and it’s just one vote and I feel like I can do that job for the next council moving forward” said Janice Smith.

 

Mayor Merv Tweed has yet to announce his plans for the upcoming election.