Richard Levesque is the first person to announce running for mayor of Meadow Lake. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

BYELECTION Q&A

A Q&A with mayoral candidate Richard Levesque

Jun 13, 2019 | 3:01 PM

Mayoral candidate Richard Levesque sat down with meadowlakeNOW for an interview ahead of the the Sept. 18 byelection. As part of the our coverage for both the vacant mayoral and soon-to-come councillor seat, meadowlakeNOW will reach out to all candidates as they are announced and pose similar questions. Some answers were amended for clarity.

There’s been some commercial growth in Meadow Lake as of late. How do you see that growth continuing?

I think Meadow Lake has been blessed with slow and gradual growth over the years and I think that it will continue. We’ve annexed property over the years to allow for commercial development and I think that will be a benefit in the long run. I think if we keep taxes at a reasonable level it will increase growth.

During the summer, residents often leave Meadow Lake. What would you like to see happen to keep people in Meadow Lake during the summer?

I think most communities have the same experience. People want to go on holidays and we have a really nice park beside us so it draws a lot of people from here and other places. I’m not sure what you can do to counteract that, you might have to throw in a few more events, which they are doing at the regional park this year. Other than that maybe some other playground programs, which I think the recreational manager is looking at now.

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Meadow Lake has a close relationship and partnership with First Nations like Flying Dust. How are you going to keep those relationships and partnerships strong?

I think you have to develop a personal relationship with the chief and whoever else is on council. If elected, I intend to meet with all the people including them and the rural municipality and any other groups that are directly affected by the relationship with the city of Meadow Lake.

Crime prevention is something residents are worried about. What are you looking at to keep residents safe?

Citizens On Patrol used to be a dynamic organization that’s had some issues over the years. That would be one thing that I think we should revisit. Also, if they do come back online, it would be nice to have them use dash cams to record events as they’re touring around. Other than more police presence, probably some video surveillance around the parks where there’s been graffiti and damage might help.

What’s your stance on the number of for sale signs on residential houses in Meadow Lake?

The sale of houses is always cyclical in nature. I don’t think the city can do a lot about it other than try to keep taxes competitive with other communities so that you don’t encourage people to move in to smaller municipalities or into the rural municipality to avoid taxes that are being levied here but other than that I don’t think the city can do a lot. We still have a lot of new construction going on so that’s a good sign. I don’t see the number of houses for sale being extraordinarily large compared to some other years.

With your experience as administrator and interim city manager, what do you hope to improve in city infrastructure and roads?

I think over the years the city has done a good job with trying to maintain the underground infrastructure with water and sewer repair and valve maintenance. I think we need to do a little bit better job of maintaining the roads that we have and doing more grader maintenance and also trying some different methods of pavement rehabilitation and dust control.

What will you do differently than previous mayors?

I’m not sure that I’ll be doing anything different. I’ll be available to anyone that has an issue regarding anything. I have an open door policy and if someone wants to meet with me somewhere or at the office, I will be available. Also, I intend to include a few more reports going to council so that the public is a little more informed.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Nikitaganov