Blaine Chrest is one of the first-time candidates in the field for Estevan city council, but he’s not new to working with municipal governments.
Chrest is currently the branch co-ordinator with the Hub International insurance company, but he has an extensive background of working with councils from his time spent in recreation before he relocated back to Estevan years ago.
“I believe my knowledge would really help the city going forward with what we have here, and how we can improve, and make this a better city,” said Chrest, who spent 15 years as a recreation director, first with the Town of Carnduff and then with the City of Cold Lake, Alta.
“I worked hand in hand with councils for that time.”
The current council has done a good job, he said. With only two incumbents seeking re-election, there will be new people on council, and Chrest would like to be part of it.
He would like to see city council continue to work on lobbying the provincial government for a new regional nursing home in Estevan. It’s been a much-needed project for Estevan for a number of years.
“I also feel that we can do a better job of looking after our facilities and maybe improving them a little bit,” said Chrest. “I know the beautification in town has been a big thing over the years in town, and I’ve been a big part of that in the past.”
It would be nice to see more walking paths around the city, which he believes would connect the community even more.
“We have a valley that’s really nice to walk through, and maybe we can even extend that,” said Chrest.
If the city is going to build new facilities, then they have to look at operating them, too, and they have to consider the economic factors facing Estevan as well.
“Estevan’s been well-known for building facilities, and they’ve always raised the money for them,” he said.
Chrest has followed council through the Mercury and the paper’s website, giving him an idea of the issues facing city council over the past four years, but he knows he would have a lot to learn if he were to be elected.
He will also have to spend a lot of time learning more about the issues facing Estevan prior to the candidate’s forum that the Estevan Chamber of Commerce will be hosting on Oct. 29.
He vowed to try to weigh both sides of an issue before ultimately making a decision.
“I want to try to use my background from working with councils as hopefully a benefit to having me on council,” said Chrest.
