Alex Reed is among the town councillors looking forward to a strategic planning retreat that starts this Thursday.

He believes it will be a challenging term and points to one of the questions asked at the candidates' debate on Oct. 13.

"How do you balance the community's needs and expectations for certain things against the realities of what you have in relation to revenue coming in and a budget?  I think the next four years are going to be much more challenging than the last."

Reed was sixth in the running and widened the gap from the seventh candidate to 78 from seven votes in 2017.

He wasn't sure what to expect but appreciates the support of the community, his campaign team, and his wife.

Even before the election got underway, Reed was talking about his belief in the value of re-electing the same team.

"I'm really thrilled to be back. I think this is a great council to be working with. We know each other's strengths and we know what each of us brings to the table, a little different perspective, and I'm excited to get back to work and make a difference for our community."

He admits he's not particularly social media savvy and sees some of its pitfuls of the negative feedback it can encourage.

"Rather than being discouraged, and putting all of my eggs in that one basket, I kind of did the traditional campaigning style of the true-and-tried method, that is doorknocking, getting out and talking to people, just getting the word out in terms of what my values are and what I saw as my platform. To be honest, I think those methods still work very well."

The retreat was originally scheduled at The Crossing at Ghost River from Oct. 21-23 but has since been moved to the Cochrane RancheHouse. Both council and senior town administration will attend.

The new council will be sworn into office on Oct. 25.

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