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Town of Cochrane council candidate focused on community building and innovation

“I’m a community builder at heart and I’m just trying to do it more formally now."
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Cochrane Town Council candidate Samantha Nickerson. Submitted Photo

COCHRANE— Joining the municipal election race with a platform centred on community building and innovation, Samantha Nickerson is the latest candidate vying for a Cochrane town council seat. 

Nickerson said she joined the municipal election to foster community connections and celebrate the things that make Cochrane a desirable community to call home.

Nickerson joins Paul Singh, Bruce Townley, Brandon Cruze, Dan Cunin and Todd Muir in the race for a town councillor seat. The municipal election takes place on Oct. 18. She officially launched her campaign on Wednesday (May 19).

The community has been exponentially growing, she said, but a major piece that still needs to be refined is keeping young people in Cochrane.

“I want to highlight how the community is a really great place to live and work in. I want kids to grow up here and then I don’t want them to leave. They can leave to go to university, wherever that is, but I want them to come back,” Nickerson said. “I think that’s what's missing, for a long-time people just left. Now, our community is obviously desirable because people are moving from across the county. They’re moving from Banff. They’re moving from out of Calgary.”

Inspiring youth to stay in the community will transform Cochrane, because young people who have grown up in town have an investment in their community and will play an important role in growing community connections and support.

Building community supports and capacities are initiatives that lie close to Nickerson’s heart, she said, explaining she has spent countless hours in the community to understand Cochranites' needs.

“I’m a community builder at heart and I’m just trying to do it more formally now,” Nickerson said.

Nickerson’s platform is centred on her passion for affordable housing and innovation, but she hopes to engage with the community to understand their needs and what they want to see in town.

“I would like to see innovation not only used in the business space by attracting business to town that are green technology and pay well … But, I would like to encourage the whole community to be more innovative by working together,” Nickerson said.

There are countless boards in town doing great work and she would like to see them accomplish even more in Cochrane. This could be in the form of a space where they can more easily access each other or through other innovative connection opportunities.

She added fiscal responsibility and water conservation will also be important in the coming years.

“There things that any good council should be striving to do,” Nickerson said. 

Nickerson has called Cochrane home for 13 years and in that time has connected with Cochranites through her volunteer work as a board member for the Cochrane Society for Housing Options, team lead for the food drive in Sunset, sitting as a board member with the Cochrane Monetary Foundation which oversees the Cochrane Dollar, served as president of the Sunset Ridge Community Association and worked as a resident director with the Sunset Ridge Homeowner Association.

She has also connected to the community through her local media event company Urban Casual.

“I’ve spent the last three or four years as part of Urban Casual really getting to know people in town and the different organizations, watching council meetings and understanding what’s going on,” Nickerson said. “I really feel like it’s the next step in supporting my community.”

Urban Casual was designed to support local organizations that cannot afford traditional advertising in Cochrane through the promotion and livestreaming of events.

Serving as a town councillor will allow Nickerson to engage with the community in a new and innovative way, she said.

While there are some issues the town faces, Nickerson said, she does not believe they are insurmountable or unachievable to fix— It will just take creativity and innovation.

“I want to highlight the positive nature of our community and the really great people here,” Nickerson said.

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