Erin candidates favour stronger committee structure in town

Erin councillor and mayoral candidates seem to generally favour the idea of a stronger committee system in Erin.

A question on the system was posed to selected council and mayoral candidates on Oct. 2 here – and all seemed to favour the idea to some degree.

Mayoral candidate Allan Alls liked the idea of furthering communication with the public.

“I can think of a few (committees) which would work really well,” he said. However, he added “ultimately the people you elect will be the ones making the decisions.”

He thought the committee structure is a great way to bring information in and noted there is a lot of expertise in the community.

Council candidates

Incumbent Josie Wintersinger definitely agreed a new committee system is needed.

“The ones that we’ve had, haven’t been working.”

Wintersinger said she would like to see advisory groups including both council and citizen representation. Noting the work of groups such as Transition Erin and Concerned Erin Citizens, she said, “I think people are coming up with some very good ideas.”

Rob Smith also favoured committees, however he feels they need stronger terms of reference to make those involved feel they are contributing and getting value from them.

Smith suggested there are some in the community who choose not to take part because they currently feel they are not getting value.

Shawn Wilson said “the one good thing that has come out of all this suffering in Erin is that there are so many people who will come out and speak to say we need to do this or I am interested in that … there is a real drive within this town (to take part).” He said people are coming out of the woodwork to say what is needed to benefit the community as a whole.

*Not all candidates were offered a chance to speak to every question at the Oct. 2 Ballinafad meeting.

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