Lyndsay Montina vying for Coalhurst mayoral seat

And just outside of Lethbridge, Lyndsay Montina is vying for the title of Mayor of Coalhurst in the 2021 municipal election. She’s joining Ron Lagemaat as the only two participants running for the town. Montina is the Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Lethbridge. She’s also the President of the Parks and Recreation Society in Coalhurst. Montina says if she’s elected, she’d like to allow for more transparency and communication for residents as the town hasn’t even live streamed council meetings in the past.

“The only real way that you can find out about things is by coming to a council meeting in person. A lot of the time it’s by figuring out what’s happening on Facebook through our groups. For transparency and communication, what I’m really looking for is how can we involve people where it’s engaging them in decision making, or even just letting them know what’s happening so that they’re getting the information from the source. Also in a timely manner so that if we have a council meeting one day, or within a couple of days they can find out right away what happened.”

Montina says she stands for strong leadership, community safety, communication and transparency, enhancing recreational facilities and programming, and economic development.

She states that with the election coming up, there’s been a lot of acclamation in the past. She decided a few years ago she was going to run, originally looking for a spot on council. As time went on she decided to take on the role of running for mayor.

Montina is the Chair for the The Rec and Culture Committee. It was established this past spring, and the whole intention was to look at recreation and culture within Coalhurst as a whole. There is a needs assessment being conducted to see what residents of Coalhurst want.

“My hope for that is that it will help establish a long term plan. So we can say these are the capital projects we want to work on, or these are the types of programs the community wants,” says Montina.

The survey portion is done and now they are going into the focus group section.

Montina has a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Rose University, and she adds that leadership is important.

“To me it’s not just a skill, it’s something I live by. I believe that I can really bring people together who are from diverse backgrounds and create innovative solutions.”

Economic development is high on her list as well.

“Looking at how we can make Coalhurst an easy place for people to come and start businesses. Whether it’s providing opportunities for them or doing something where it makes it a little bit easier for them to get a business license.”

Montina says she’s received a ton of support from the community in her run for the top mayoral spot.

Voters will head to the polls for the Alberta municipal election on October 18th.