HYAS — Residents of Hyas will be going to the polls July 8 to fill an empty spot on council.
Gord Lincoln and Charles Goossen are running for the councillor position after it was vacated by Elaine Brewer.
“I’m relatively new to Hyas, I’ve only been here about a year and a half,” said Lincoln, “but I’ve really enjoyed my stay here. I’m hoping to contribute to the village.”
Lincoln, a native of Niagara Falls, has lived “all around” Canada, most recently working as a distributor for bread products in Williams Lake, B.C, but decided to settle down in Hyas.
“I’m retired, so I have a lot of spare time. So I can put whatever effort I need to to make things work.”
“Hyas is a very quiet, peaceful town, and we’d like to keep it that way. My job would be to make that happen”. Lincoln would like to find a way to make productive use of the several abandoned buildings in Hyas. As well, he’d hope to organize fundraising and community activities like a weekly farmer’s market.
Goossen is originally from Preeceville, he moved to Hyas 12 years ago. A retired chicken farmer, he’s married with four children and 12 grandchildren.
“I’ve been doing mowing around town,” he said, “and fixing things when people ask me to all the time.”
Goossen is the first Mennonite to run for village council in Hyas.
“We could do some improvements to our roads and infrastructure,” said Goossen, who added he would like to see the Village’s tax base grow. “I think I’ll have to get onto council to find out what some of the other issues are and how to address them.”
Mayor Shannon Amon said that the council is looking forward to the election.
“It’s always good to have one more person to throw ideas against and hear their ideas”, she said.
“Infrastructure is something that all of us, at the time we were elected, had grand plans for,” she remarked, “then you realize reality hits you in the face. No. 1, it’s very expensive, No. 2, a lot of stuff you want to do you’re not allowed to do because it doesn’t belong to you.”
