20 candidates registered so farin Brandon municipal election

The number of registered candidates for the October municipal election in Brandon is now sitting at 20.

With more than a month still to go before registration ends on Sept. 22, six wards have only one candidate each registered, while five people are vying for the Ward 2 seat to represent the city’s downtown area.

Incumbent Mayor Jeff Fawcett and former councillor and Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson remain the only registered candidates for the city’s top position.

Candidates for council seats are:

• Ward 1: Heather Karrouze (incumbent) and Ron Shaluk

• Ward 2: Dale Bates, Sunday Frangi, Onyebuchi Onuke, Deveryn Ross and Sonikile Tembo

• Ward 3: Enver Naidoo

• Ward 4: Shaun Cameron (incumbent)

• Ward 5: Greg Hildebrand (incumbent)

• Ward 6: Bruce Luebke (incumbent)

• Ward 7: Shawn Berry (incumbent)

• Ward 8: Jason Splett (incumbent), Dhara Patel and Ketan Patel

• Ward 9: Norah Woychyshyn

• Ward 10: Tyson Tame (incumbent) and Mitesh Patel

Onuke, Tembo and Ketan Patel are the newest registered candidates.

Tembo in an interview last week said her experience as principal planner for the city means she has the understanding of the inner workings of the city most candidates don’t have.

She said she also truly enjoys living in Ward 2, having resided both downtown and in The Flats.

Tembo is on leave from her position as a city planner in order to run for office. She said she would resign from the job if she wins the election and return to it if her bid is unsuccessful.

“I think it’s a really good time to be part of that decision-making table and be part of a group that’s really passionate about getting things done,” she said.

Tembo said there’s a lot of momentum for the city right now, whether it be new housing downtown or various events.

Safety, downtown beautification and cleanup are her priorities, she said.

She said the downtown often gets “painted with a Town Centre brush,” but that issues of loitering and drug use are being worked on by city staff and people are on the ground making a difference.

City administration is taking “every possible step” to improve homelessness and the downtown, she said.

Tembo said another reason she is running is because it’s important that council reflects the whole community.

“Whether it’s age group, season of life, ethnicity, experience, I think we would greatly benefit from a diversity of viewpoints and people at that council table that represent the community,” she said.

Proper representation for The Flats, which lies north of the CPKC rail line and south of the Assiniboine River, is also important, she said.

Running in Ward 10, Mitesh Patel said he wants to see more debate around the council table. He said he has been following council since around the time he moved to Brandon from Lloydminster, Sask., five years ago, and there is hardly ever any debate happening.

Having 11 council members doesn’t make sense when most decisions are made unanimously, Patel said.

He wants to see a former administrative recommendation to lower the number of councillors back on the table.

In March, administration recommended going from 11 council members to nine, and reducing the number of wards from 10 to four, with two councillors per ward, plus the mayor.

Council voted down those recommendations at a meeting later that month. Council, however, did approve a recommendation from the same report to raise the base salary for councillors by more than $5,000 and for the mayor by $14,000, effective next year.

Patel said fewer wards would make sense given the city’s population.

“I believe that was bang on from administration was to combine a couple of wards,” Patel said.

“It can be debatable that we would have less choices or less voice on the table, but there is hardly any debate happening.”

Patel said he works full-time is a business manager for a Brandon satellite residency campus of the University of Manitoba. He also manages an envelope manufacturing company in the city.

He said he moved to Brandon as it was a “prospect city” for business.

“There is still lot of potential in the city, which might be converted into economic growth for people if there is right opportunities given at right time,” Patel said.

He said he wants to focus on economic growth, safer streets, better services and improved infrastructure if elected to office.

The Sun also reached out to Onuke and Ketan Patel, but they didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Dhara Patel has also not responded to several requests for comment over four weeks.

The election will happen on Oct. 28.

» alambert@brandonsun.com