By Kirk Starratt
KingsCountyNews.ca
A candidate in the upcoming special election for the vacant District 8 Kings County council seat wants to be a liaison between council and constituents and work toward economic development in the municipality.
When asked why he is running in the March 16 election, incumbent Dale Lloyd of West Berwick said he’s been in business his whole life and knows how to provide good, quality, everyday customer service. That’s why he is running, he says: to act as a sort of liaison between the municipality and a person planning to develop a piece of land, for example, or an individual looking for information on how to go about certain projects.
“If I can be that liaison person, set that meeting up and it goes well, then I feel good about it,” Lloyd said. “I have a strong interest in people, and basically, that’s why I’m doing it.”
He hopes people will believe that, trust in him and that election day will be good to him.
Click here to watch a video profile of Lloyd.
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His top priority, if re-elected, would be to continue what he has been doing for the past four years: working with people; making himself open and available to constituents and making them feel welcome to pick up the phone or send him an e-mail at any time on any issue that they may have. One thing he does well is getting back to people very quickly, he said.
“That sounds like a simple answer, but that’s what a lot of people really, really want - someone who gets right back to them to talk about the situation and find a solution,” Lloyd said.
When asked what he sees as the greatest challenge facing the municipality, Lloyd said council must look at economic development. Council has budgeted for an economic development officer for the municipality. He said council worked hard on that initiative and he thinks it will be a big plus for the county.
“It’s not a quick fix, but it’s certainly, I think, the way to go,” he said. “A lot of people have been talking about how do we spur economic development. Well, there are things going on.”
Lloyd pointed out that Regional Development Authorities across the province, including the Kings Regional Development Agency, are in the process of being replaced by Regional Enterprise Networks. There will be six regional networks established to replace 13 development authorities. Lloyd said the new model might work better.
“It’s taking the work that they’ve already done in the RDA and trying to move it forward in another way,” he said.
Lloyd said if the Regional Enterprise Networks are put in place, this would hopefully generate economic spin-offs, capitalizing on the good work already done by the Kings Regional Development Agency.
“We’ve got the ideas,” he said. “Now, we just have to make things work.”
To watch a video profile of Lloyd, visit www.kingscountynews.ca.
