Sixteen people are battling for the eight seats on Red Deer city council.
The Oct. 18 municipal election has attracted more candidates than the 2007 election, when 14 people ran, but less than the 25 council candidates who ran in 2004.
The ballot will include six incumbents. Lynne Mulder, Cindy Jefferies, Tara Veer and Frank Wong are all seeking a third term. Buck Buchanan and Gail Parks are seeking a second term each.
Mulder, 63, is a retired vice-president academic at Red Deer College.
Jefferies, 47, served on Red Deer Public School District board for nine years, including six years as board chair, before running for council.
Wong, 61, is a former planning assistant. Veer, 32, is a children’s ministry co-ordinator with Living Stones Church.
Parks, 69, is a retired businesswoman and Buchanan, 52, is a retired RCMP officer who runs X-Cops Inc. security company.
Candidate Jeffrey Dawson, 43, was a Red Deer councillor from 1995 to 2007, wants to return to council.
Dawson, a sales representative with Condor Solutions, was defeated in the race for mayor in 2007.
Two candidates are taking another run at office. Matt Chapin, 24, a bachelor of arts and business student, ran unsuccessfully for mayor three years ago.
He is also running as a Red Deer Public School District trustee.
TerryLee Ropchan, 46, an assistant manager in residence at Red Deer College, ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2004.
There are seven candidates who have never before run for Red Deer council:
• Dianne Wyntjes, 51, a regional director of CUPE.
• Paul Harris, 48, a community facilitator and co-owner of SunWorks.
• Jim Watters, 55, an ATCO gasfitter, who just served 12 years as a school board trustee with Red Deer Public.
• Clarence Torgerson, 58, a commercial relator with Realty Investments Corp.
• Calvin Yzerman, 50, is self-employed and deals with Internet products.
• Jason Chilibeck, 39, works in e-commerce.
• Chris Stephan, 29, owns Stephan Law Group and Shared Homes International.
Matt Chapin is after a rare double play.
The 24-year-old Red Deer man is running for both for city council and Red Deer Public School District board.
Chapin filed nomination forms for both positions on Monday.
City of Red Deer returning officer Elaine Vincent said no one has run for two positions anywhere in the province as far back as the 1970s.
But Vincent said a candidate is allowed to run as a trustee and as a councillor in the same election.
Under the Local Authorities Election Act, a candidate is not eligible to be nominated for more than one office of the same elected authority.
“So because the City of Red Deer is one elected authority you can not run for mayor and council at the same time,” Vincent said. “But because a public school trustee or a Catholic school trustee is completely different than the City of Red Deer, they are considered two separate authorities and therefore you can file nomination papers in both of those jurisdictions.”
Chapin contacted the city in the summer to see if it was possible and city staff did research and checked with Municipal Affairs to confirm he could run for both.
Chapin ran for mayor in 2007, when he came in a distant third behind Morris Flewwelling and Jeffrey Dawson. In 2008, Chapin put his name forward for the local federal NDP nomination but lost to Stuart Somerville.
Chapin said he wants to run for both positions to gain more experience.
“In many ways I feel that both the city and the public school board will help me gain the experience for one day going for mayor or into the field of provincial or federal politics,” Chapin said.
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