A 55-year-old Rimbey businessman who wants to help mend what he believes to be a serious rift in the community has stepped forward to let his name stand as a candidate for town council.
In the two years Matt Jaycox has lived in the community, the design engineer for Telus has felt there is dissention and discord among the townspeople on several political issues.
“I feel that sense of division and it bothers me.”
Jaycox loves the town and wants to have a part in helping it become a close-knit community again.
“I don’t have an axe to grind. I simply want to help where I can. I’m a servant at heart but I’m not a follower; not a yes man. I am an independent thinker. I’m not on anybody’s side and I’m very careful what I put my support behind.”
Jaycox has no experience in municipal politics, but he is more than ready to learn.
If elected, he would support putting more money into the maintenance of the infrastructure.
“We need to put more money into maintaining what we’ve got,” he said. “The sidewalk needs to be completed (to the provincial building) if the issue of moving the town offices there comes up again,” he added.
Jaycox, who volunteered as a Big Brother last year and is chairman of the Church of the Nazarene board of directors, would like to see more young people in town. He supports the library expanding but would like to see the board look at fundraising as a way to raise more money to help with such projects.
An avid outdoorsman, Jaycox is pleased to be living in Rimbey where both he and wife Ruth Ann can experience rural Alberta.
Before moving to Rimbey, the couple lived near the Keyera gas plant.
The couple has two adult children, Robert and Matthew, and a 19-month-old grandson, Emmitt.