Dwight Kilpatrick (right) has always found ways to be involved in the town of Redcliff, from over 35 years on the museum board to over 28 years on the volunteer fire department.- The two-term mayor has chosen to seek a council seat this go-round.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Dwight Kilpatrick has been on council for 36 years, eight of them as mayor. He might be ready to step back from the mayoral seat, but he isn’t leaving municipal politics behind.
For Kilpatrick, the role of mayor is much the same as the role of councillor within the council chamber. It’s outside council that the responsibilities mount.
“As mayor, you’re the voice of council after the meetings, you chair the meetings and then you get invited to a lot of other events,” he said in an interview with the News on Friday.
“The role of councillor is a lot less onerous and still keeps me involved, still keeps me making the same decisions, because each one of us have one vote,” he said. “In my stage of life, I thought it was time for me.”
If elected councillor, Kilpatrick says his priority would be to make some needed investments in infrastructure. The two biggest projects he sees looming are the extra intake for the water treatment plant and the replacement of aging infrastructure beneath the roads.
“Two years ago, during the drought, our existing intake was so close to the surface that it was causing siphoning, and we were getting into water restrictions,” he said. “Having another intake, you’re pulling from two places. You won’t get that same siphon, so that’s a safety for us.”
Kilpatrick says preliminary studies have already begun, but the project hasn’t yet been included in the budget. In the next term, Kilpatrick says that should be a council priority, alongside the set of infrastructural upgrades already planned across three blocks on Fifth Street.
Kilpatrick says his proudest achievement over his decades on council has been to build up the town’s reserve funds.
“When I got on council, there were no reserves. Every time you needed to do something, you had to get it from the taxpayer, and that was a rollercoaster ride nobody wanted to survive on anymore.”
After years of frugal fiscal management, the reserve fund has grown so that reserve money can supplement taxpayer dollars when big projects get built.
Ahead of this election, Kilpatrick hopes his track record on council speaks for itself.
“I still have the drive to stay involved and keep going and I’ve always stayed true to my word. I don’t tell people things, even if it’s what they want to hear. That doesn’t always keep me in good standing, but I’d rather be upfront and honest with people than tell them we can do things when we can’t.
“I’ve been very tight with budgets, I’ve been very forthright with people and that’s the way I will continue to be.”
