Marni Fedeyko wants to continue to put people first and is seeking re-election to a second term on town council.

"What I take my success from is being able to help the one person or two people, because even if it's not a big project, like solving traffic woes, those people are still important." 

While she believes the town has improved engagement with residents, there's more work to be done.

"We need to get better, smarter, and ahead of the game, and look at a lot of different options to be able to properly engaged people, not look at a survey and see 20 people replied and base our decision on that. That doesn't fly anymore." 

She says COVID has gotten in the way of fully engaging residents.

"We've lost two years of where we've been able to properly engage the public, and I think that's something we need to get back to."

Fedeyko uses the example of the current discussions on the proposed river wave project on the Bow. She believes people haven't been able to view the full details of the project. When they do, she wants to know where the majority stand.

"That (engagement) piece is critical to me when it comes to making decisions that will impact our residents."

It was Fedeyko's notice of motion early in the term that lead to the live streaming of council meetings.

"Looking back, when it came to COVID, thank God we had live streaming because without that I don't even know how we would have got that information to residents."

Among other things, she has been questioning the level of funding provided for the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. She says it was a direct result of people reaching out to her.

"It's not about me picking on organizations or picking on things like that, but it is the concerns that I've heard from residents. After multiple times, I think somebody needs to take some actions, at least look into it, and be willing to ask the hard questions while sitting in chambers."

She pushed for, and got, speed limit reductions in many neighbourhoods, and was vocal on the need for many of the pedestrian crosswalks to go forward that had been identified by public works.

She continues to be an advocate for first responders, education, social services, local businesses, and health care and is a member of the grassroots citizens' action committee on addressing EMS response times.

She says the current council can't take full credit for all of the projects that have occurred because they have been in the works for years, but they played a part.

"As much we don't necessarily agree with each other all the time, we've worked hard together to push forward on some of these projects."

That wasn't particularly easy when so many meetings were held virtually, and they weren't in the same room to look each other in the eye.

She believes she found her voice in her first term and says it does take time.

"Until you're actually sitting in those chairs, it's a huge learning curve for new councillors. I think it took me a good year and a half to get used to the process.

"When I got going, I realized that I wasn't scared to speak up anymore."

She is leery of doorknocking during the campaign because of the pandemic. Instead, she will leave door knockers and invite people to make contact.

She will be self-financing the campaign because she believes whether she fails or succeeds is on her shoulders, plus she's uncomfortable approaching people and businesses when so many have been hurt by the economic downturn and pandemic.

"I'd love for people to help me and volunteer, but no cash."