Council candidate Michael Reid, posing inside his yoga studio, is a former teacher and relatively new Hatter who has already made a name for himself in his short time here. He says his focus as councillor will be to see money spent wisely and residents listened to and acted for.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
New to Medicine Hat and already deeply involved, council candidate Michael Reid wants to focus on results.
A former teacher and now owner of YogaRevolution, Reid has lived in the city for two years. In that time, he has become a well known face downtown and with the Chamber of Commerce and is looking to do even more for the place he’s made his new home.
When Reid and his wife moved to the city, it was something of a “both feet first” decision, something he notes he is doing again in his desire to represent residents as a member of council.
“I want to be part of the city. I want to be involved. I don’t want to just be passive. It’s one thing to sit back and just complain. I’d rather be involved, educate myself somehow, be part of the solution, if I can,” said Reid. “I started simple, with joining the Chamber of Commerce. I joined a couple of committees there, but I want to go further with this.”
Overall, Reid doesn’t want to focus on specific issues, instead being flexible and receptive to the needs of the city as a whole. However, he does consider responsibility and efficiency in a broad sense to be something he would like to contribute to council.
‘One of the priorities that I have is, is really just being efficient, cleaning things up, making sure that we are looking at what are the priorities that people need,” said Reid. He suggested he would like to, alongside council, take stock of what is needed and what is still serving the city as opposed to what ideas or projects may be outdated or unnecessary.
“Don’t get me wrong, we all know taxes pay for things,” said Reid. “But as a taxpayer myself, I want to see that the money is being spent in the most responsible way possible, by talking to the right people and making the right decisions to ensure it’s being done properly.”
In that vein, he spoke about wanting to do his part as a councillor to help ensure the various organizations, committees and services within the city are better co-ordinated and communicating more clearly with each other.
Building those bridges and closing those gaps, says Reid, would prevent duplication of services and help to inform decisions made so they will be the most effective they can possibly be.
“I’m very solution based. I’m not big on venting, I’m not big on complaining, I’m not big on focusing on issues that don’t have solutions,” said Reid. “It’s fine to have a concern and I’m always happy to hear someone out, but I would rather stay focused, stay positive and see what is actually within our power to do about it, if anything. What can be done? What is actionable? Is it in our control? If it’s an issue that’s not at a municipal level, how can I advocate?”
If elected, Reid aims to do just that, focusing on finding the heart of the issues presented and what can be done about them on the municipal level. In the meantime, he will be seeking opportunities to meet with people, be it at public events or as he works at his business, as well as making his ideas and viewpoints known on his campaign website at sites.google.com/view/michaelreidmh.
“I love to talk. I love to listen. I think people that do know me, they know I’m passionate and they know that I will do my best and I will take responsibility,” said Reid. “I like to be resourceful. I also can help find people. If I don’t have the answer, I like to reach out and say, ‘I’ll see if I can find someone who does.'”
Reid is one of 18 council candidates, as of Wednesday, for the Oct. 20 election. The first name was fielded for the Medicine Hat Public School Division Trustee candidacy. Wesley Paterson is the first candidate for the public school division trustee race. There are two candidates in the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education Trustee race, Chuck Hellman and Richard (Dick) Mastel, the latter seeking re-election.
