Kari Janzen · Staff Reporter |
About thirty people attended the candidates forum that was held in the village of Holden on Monday, Oct. 6 at the Holden Seniors Drop In Centre, with seven of the eight people running for council able to attend.
Delbert Degenhardt was the moderator of the evening, and, to begin, each candidate had a minute to introduce themselves.
In order of the way they were seated, current mayor since 2023, Tyler Beckett said he sees a lot of potential in the village, he wants to see more businesses, and make Holden a place where you don’t need to leave to get essentials.
“It would be nice to see businesses coming back, to bring the town back to where people can live here and not have to travel to get food. I’d also like to bring tourism in to bring in some outside dollars, and let the town revitalize a bit,” Beckett said.
Graeme Duckworth has lived in Holden for six years and while he doesn’t like politicians, if elected, he will do his best.
“I think this town is awesome. It’s nice and quiet except for the trains. But I see a lot of potential in this town, I don’t see it happening, but I would like to see that happen. I’m not good at politics; I don’t like politicians, because if their lips are moving, they’re lying. So, I prefer to think of myself as just a councillor, and hopefully my lips are telling the truth when they’re moving,” Duckworth said.
Current councillor John Markel said he’s been on council for the last two terms, has been part of many boards and committees, and he’s been glad to see the work that has been done in Holden, most recently on the sewer systems, and hopes to continue to be part of council to move projects forward.
Mark Giebelhaus has deep roots in Holden and wants to continue to build Holden towards the future.
“I’m a fourth-generation farmer and I’ve lived in town now for over 15 years. I started school here in grade one and I graduated here in grade 12.
“My grandfather and his brothers were carpenters in the area for years, and his brothers had the hardware store, grocery store, and a gravel truck business. I built the laundromat and the hair salon, and now with the bottle depot I’m helping support the town, to keep it viable. It would be nice to see some stuff move back in here and get busier, so I want to try and work on that in the future, too,” Giebelhaus said.
Tammy Lynn Hill and her family moved to Holden from Wainwright in 2020, she runs the preschool that operates out of the school in Holden, and she wants to make the village a place that the area kids want to grow up to live in.
“My 10-year-old has already told me she wants to stay here, and that’s why I’m running for council. I want to make this village so that all our kids want to stay here and so that younger people want to move in. I think we have a lot of problems with people who are younger who want to move here but they think that the older people don’t want anything to change. I like to be old fashioned, but I also think we need to have change. We have to do stuff that can get the economy going, start doing community things and get people to start volunteering more,” Hill said.
Carl Marsh moved to Holden in 2011, having moved from Edmonton to get away from the city. He has served on council for one term in the past, as mayor and deputy mayor, but stepped back due to work.
“I’m kind of semi-retired now, so I can offer the time and the commitment to the village again. My concern is safety, keeping taxes low as much as we can, keeping crime low, trying to get rid of the riff raff. I don’t have a big mandate or big hopes and dreams, I just like it here and I want to see it keep growing, and I think I can chip in and help,” Marsh said.
Alan Ramshaw has lived in Holden since 2016 except for a three-year period when he lived in Edmonton for work, but he said he chose Holden because he believes Holden is in the middle of everything.
“It’s 40 minutes from Camrose, 25 minutes from Vegreville, Tofield’s 20 minutes, Viking is not that far away, so for employment for families and things like that, this is a nice place to live.
“It’s a calm community and one of the reasons I really enjoy it. I think that as a whole, I’m a really good communicator, I have a little bit of experience with government, I’m great with people, I’m task oriented, so I think that I would be a good asset to Holden as well. I look forward to trying to help the community bring in a little bit of business, and families who would like to live and stay in the town. I think there’s a lot of potential here,” Ramshaw said.
Current councillor Shawn Cole was not able to attend the forum.
Some of the questions from the audience were about unsightly properties and teenagers speeding down the streets of Holden.
