Fule officially resumes duties as Mayor

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mayor-Elect Pat Fule was sworn in for his third term at the helm of Strathmore’s town council on Oct. 29, having defeated Jason Hollingsworth by 31 votes to maintain his position.

Fule expressed his gratitude to the local community for allowing him the opportunity to serve for another four years on council and vote for decisions he believes to be in the best interests of the town.

“I’m still going to try to do my part as far as voting and making decisions based on what I think is in the best interest of the municipality; so I still want to do that and there are still some things that I want to work on and work towards,” he said. “In our second day of training, we got to talk about what our campaign platforms were and try to explain where we would like to see the town move in certain ways, but we all have to remember that we have one vote so we have to work together to see if we can get some things moved forward.”

He acknowledged that many of the council members ran their campaigns on fiscal responsibility and careful spending, adding a belief that council must also work to move the town forward and prepare for significant growth.

This year’s election also served as the first since the rise and fall of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fule noted his enjoyment of the ability to once again engage in person both with voters during the campaign, as well as without public safety measures being required. 

“It was really good to get in front of the various people, they could hear what we were interested in, what we were hoping to try to work towards, and answer their questions,” he said. “It was a different feeling, back to being in front of people, back to people coming together to hear their candidates.” 

Fule enters his fifth term on council, having spent two as a councillor prior to putting his hat in the ring for Strathmore’s top job.

Among his top priorities through this campaign and going forward into the new term is Strathmore’s water use and supply, particularly in the face of imminent rapid growth.

“This area of the Bow River basin is an area that we have to keep an eye on our water usage because water is not infinite, and my concern in the future is the availability of fresh drinking water. We have to start looking into the future as to what we are going to do regarding that,” he said. “There are aquifers below the town in areas, but we also have to start looking at things in the future such as reuse of water – treating and reusing it.”

Such considerations for usage and growth stem notably from the development of the De Havilland aircraft campus, as well as the CGC wallboard manufacturing plant undergoing development in Wheatland County. 

With respect to the county, Fule also stressed his desire to renew and refresh the town’s relationship with the neighbouring government body.

“The relationship between the Town of Strathmore and Wheatland County was very strained in this last term. There were serious problems, but I stand and I believe from the work that my council and I did in our training session, we are ready to … reset and get our councils back together.”

Town of Strathmore council meetings will resume in earnest come November.