As incumbent Tim Cartmell and rookie Jennifer Rice settle into their terms as city councillors, both have an eye to tackle pivotal issues like the economy and the city's next budget.
Cartmell, who won more than 80% of the vote in Ward pihêsiwin, represents Edmontonians who live in both mature and brand new neighbourhoods. He said there are two main issues that he's heard about from his constituents: the need for traffic calming and more focus on building a 15-minute city.
"I want things closer. If I'm in a new neighborhood, I would like ... things that are convenient and within that 15-minute walk. Outside the Henday ring, where is my spontaneous recreation opportunity? Where is my daycare? Where's my employment opportunity?" Cartmell asked on Taproot's Speaking Municipally podcast.
"People want that, perhaps romantic experience, that they can do a lot of what they want to do within a few steps of their home."
Looking to the term ahead, Cartmell said his biggest priority is the next four-year capital and operating budgets.
"We're going to employ a prioritized budgeting process. What do people want to see, and it's going to be different in different wards ... and in different segments of the city. So that's the work I really want to dig into," Cartmell said.
"I'm excited to be on utility committee this time around. We took a giant step with our new waste collection system — refining and evolving that to make it ever better."
He added that he also wants to be more assertive on issues like snow clearing and the cost of infrastructure, in an effort to make progress on those files.
Meanwhile, Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi councillor Jennifer Rice wants to focus on diversifying the economy as the city recovers from COVID-19.
"If we have a strong economy, that means we will have ... even more resources to support people, to care about people," Rice said.
Tim Cartmell is the councillor for Ward pihêsiwin, while Jennifer Rice represents Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi. (Flickr/Mack Male)
Rice is a former public servant and university professor and won the race in her ward against Rhiannon Hoyle by 33 votes. She told Taproot that she hopes to "embrace all of the different communities" that make up Edmonton.
"(My) heritage is from the Mandarin Chinese community. We have so many young, community leaders — I do want to use my experience going through this campaign to inspire them to get involved in our community development, and in our city's development. I think this is so important for every different background community."
In addition to economic development, she'll also be focused on advocating for the issues she's heard about from Edmontonians in her ward. Those include getting the best value for property taxes and ensuring community safety.
"What I heard from people is that we do want to keep our community safe. And we do want to care about the vulnerable people who live in our community, to ensure everybody in our city feels safe," Rice said.
Speaking Municipally has also done "meet the councillors" interviews with Aaron Paquette, Anne Stevenson and Jo-Anne Wright, Sarah Hamilton and Michael Janz, Keren Tang and Ashley Salvador, Andrew Knack and Erin Rutherford, and Karen Principe.