Longtime West Perth resident, with deep roots, seeks council seat
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When you think about it, for someone who has such deep roots in West Perth, it was just a matter of time before Doug Feltz ran for municipal council.
That time is now.
Feltz, 59, has ties with every ward of West Perth – his mom Marlene was raised in Hibbert, dad Ray came from Logan and he grew up in what is now the Fullarton ward where his parents still live, and has lived in Mitchell for most of his adult life. Now, with some time to offer the municipality, he is seeking one of three councillor seats in the Mitchell ward for the upcoming Oct. 24 municipal election.
“I’m a West Perth boy. I left for two years through work, met my wife and came back,” he said.
In his 15th year as a commercial risk consultant, Feltz travels throughout the province, Manitoba and into the east coast of Canada, and although contemplating seeking a seat on council for a long time, this time around he was urged by family to not wait any longer. Practically at the last minute, he spent time running around obtaining enough signatures to make his nomination legal, and submitted it before the 2 o’clock deadline on Aug. 19.
Now that he’s in, he’s planning on serving the community he’s loved from Day One.
“I love my community. West Perth is a great place to raise a family and it’s good to see new people moving in,” he said. “It attracts people if you’ve got jobs, schools, rec centres … all of that stuff is a good feeling to outsiders moving in.”
A former member of the West Perth Fire Department (WPFD) for 17 years, the last seven of which he was the training officer, Feltz’s son Cody is currently a captain with the WPFD.
The father of three and grandfather of three, and a strong advocate and proponent of local history, Feltz has offered his services to be involved with the West Perth Homecoming Committee, an event being planned for 2024, but if elected, that may put a crimp on the title he envisioned, but he plans to be involved in some capacity.
Feltz says he feels he can offer common sense to the position of councillor.
“This is a new job, if it happens, and there’s a learning curve for sure,” he said, but noted that once word spread that he’s seeking election, lots of people have come up to him and suggested different things that council needs to implement moving forward.
“I can’t yet comment to that because I don’t know both sides of the story,” he said to those people. “It’s a collective group that makes the decisions. I think it’s good to have different points of view – it’s good to see the two young guys running for council with some fresh perspectives because I do think, like anywhere, you get complacent if you’re there too long.”
Feltz said there’s been lots of flak about the money spent on both the new fire hall and municipal building, and his first question to those people is how much should it cost? Is it any different when farmers build new large barns rather than renovating? As for the municipal building, people forget that it was built as a high school 100 years ago and has long passed its prime.
“I’m as historical as anybody and it has just done its time. It’s a utilitarian building …. and the efficiencies aren’t there. It’s not handicap accessible and it was built on multi levels,” he said.
Housing, creating medium businesses to attract employees and facilitating competition amongst downtown businesses are other facets Feltz said he’d like to zero in on if elected, with a strong emphasis on doing everything as local as possible and supporting local business when you can.
“Things move at a much slower pace than maybe what I’m used to when I owned my own business, but I realize that,” he concedes, referring to his seven-year partnership with Jim Tubb and Tubb & Feltz Electrical. “We need some meat and potatoes stuff that brings in steady taxes.
“People just want to be heard, listened to what their concerns are, and want an answer,” he added, saying all he can do and promises to do is find out answers to questions from the ratepayers.
West Perth municipal election day is Oct. 24 but online voting begins Oct. 17 and runs until election day.
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