Incumbent town councillor Morgan Nagel is making his third run for Cochrane council and said his mission to preserve his beloved community.
“Going back to the very beginning of why I got involved in politics in the first place, it was really just all about wanting to keep Cochrane the same great little community that I grew up in,” he said.
Elected for his first term at 23-years-old, Nagel said he felt like he was up against the world.
“I had quite a bit of confidence when I was in there my first term trying to make some big changes," he said. "But the things I’ve always talked about, the things that I’ve always cared about, or at least most passionately about, are managing growth and keeping Cochrane a smaller, friendlier community.”
Nagel said his platform is also about investing in traffic infrastructure to keep the community flowing while also upholding a fiscally conservative mindset.
In this campaign, he said his message is the same as it was in the last election, though some of the objectives have had to adapt to the times.
“I want to continue to invest in traffic infrastructure," he said. "We’ve got a couple projects coming as people can see, but I think the work is not done. We need to be investing and planning for additional projects because once these projects that are currently under construction by ourselves and the provincial government come through, there’s not a ton more planned after that.”
Nagel said he wishes to see the Town carry out a major transportation study and come up with a more comprehensive plan of what the next major infrastructure projects need to be.
The focus on transportation needs to extend beyond just vehicles, he said.
“I really want us to be focusing a bit more on pedestrian and bicycle access," he said. "There’s a lot of communities in Cochrane where you can’t necessarily get into town where you live. I’m thinking of Heartland and Heritage Hills, or maybe Sunset.”
Nagel, who lives in Fireside, said he has the same problem with accessibility there and that it can be difficult and dangerous to try to get into town when not driving.
“I think we should have a very real goal of making sure that there’s proper pedestrian and bike access for absolutely every community in Cochrane,” he said.
A report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that came out last year, Nagel said, points to Cochrane as having the best operating expenses per capita in comparison with other similarly sized Alberta communities.
“Each time we discuss major expenses, I’ve regularly been a voice for respecting people’s pocketbooks and spending responsibly," he said. "Those are the kinds of big things where it just really comes down to how you contribute to the municipal discussion. I think my greatest asset is my ability to be a voice for the issues that matter most for our community. I think I have proven my ability and willingness to speak up for important and sometimes difficult issues.”
Nagel said he has been vocal in his support for Cochrane Light Up, using social media to call attention to the longstanding holiday event potentially being cancelled.
Co-chair of the event, Stephanie Shelstad, made the difficult decision to pull the plug on the event late last month citing a lack of funding from the Town for new holiday lights. Nagel stepped in and made a post on Facebook stating that he would make supporting the $15,000 needed for Cochrane Light Up, an official plank of his election platform.
“I’m in no way trying to take credit for the outcome of it now seeming like Cochrane Light Up has been saved,” he said. “But I’ve been able to act as like a lightning rod for community concerns. There was a huge uproar last week of people saying ‘we need to defend light up.’ I was one of the people who stood up and gave people a vehicle to actually stand up for it by launching a petition.”
Nagel added that the petition managed to garner nearly 300 signatures in less than 48 hours, and his post on social media calling attention to the event was shared over 50 times.
“There is often a sizeable chunk of our municipality, where the residents feel they are not being heard or represented on something," he said. "I’ll speak up and really give a voice to those people, whether it’s people who are upset with how fast a development’s been approved, or people upset with the lack of infrastructure, or again, the most recent example of Light Up. The most important thing I do for council is speak up when it matters most.”
