Prince George goes to the polls Nov. 19 to determine who will be their municipal leaders for the next three years.
In an effort to better inform the community on the 24 candidates running for a seat on Prince George municipal council, The Citizen sent out a form to all hopefuls with a series of questions that we hope will reveal their histories, priorities, qualifications and personalities.
Here are what they had to say.
1. Name: Albert Koehler
2. Occupation: Professional engineer, professor, 1976 to 1982, certified mechanic, 1966 to 1970
3. Community Involvement
Currently:
President, Northern Technology & Engineering Society, President, Yellowhead Rotary Club of PG, Past President (now Governor) of the PG Chamber of Commerce, board member, Prince George Community Futures, Fraser Fort George, board member, PG Symphony, member of the Barkerville Heritage Trust Advisory Committee, honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany for all of Northern BC
Past:
Director of the Yellowhead Rotary Club ,Vice president of the PG Chamber of, Commerce and board member for three years, member of the UNBC - UBC Board of Studies, Chair of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists, Prince George chapter
4. Other pertinent qualifications: My qualifications are multifaceted and are based on experiences in different cities, as well as countries (Europe) that bring a perspective otherwise not available. I started a corporation from scratch and build a successful organization. I am a board member of large organizations and I am well familiar with chairing and/or leading meetings.
5. Why are you running for council? We have to focus on services we need at cost we can afford. The decisions made so far do not reflect this and I am very concerned. Our taxes have increased tremendously while our tax base has not.
Prince George did not grow over the last few years and the economy is not as diversified as it could be.
6. What can you uniquely bring to council? Experience in financial management, decision making and leadership, as well as team playing. My track record is solid and shows many achievements that do not come alone but by making good decisions and being a role model for others with regards to work, morals and ethics www.albertkoehler.com.
7. What are your most pressing issues?
a) The state of our roads and the infrastructure.
b) Re-shaping downtown to make Prince George a more attractive city.
c) Economic Diversification and Sustainable Development.
8. How do you propose to address those issues?
a) By clearly prioritizing where money will be spent.
b) Doing (not talking about it) what can be done down town and setting a clear time line until the year 2018
c) Providing technical and engineering education at our post secondary education institutes that allow graduates to develop and create "from within", as well as attracting businesses and people to Prince George, which clearly requires us to reduce the tax rate. It can be done!
9. What do you hope to accomplish in your three-year term should you be elected?
That we clearly can set priorities how the tax dollars will be spent and that we find efficiencies that allow us to continue providing the services we need (road rehabilitation, snow removal, water sewer, etc.)
I am confident that I can majorly contribute to keeping our taxes down and at the same time find solutions and implementations for an increase of the diversification of our economy, while not loosing focus on a sustainable development.
