麻豆视频

The Carlyle Town Council is currently looking to fill the vacancy created with the departure of Melvin George.

As of Friday, Feb. 14, a single candidate, Martin Tourand, had been nominated.

Tourand, originally of Weyburn, has had ties to Carlyle for most of his life with his parents having had a cabin at White Bear Lake.

This connection came with the eventual expansion of their family store, Ron's The Work Wear Store, to Carlyle.

"The store has been here for, this is our 15th year I believe, Jan. 20, 1999," Tourand explained.

It was ten years ago, however, that saw Tourand move to Carlyle, and fall in love with the town.

"I love Carlyle it's a wonderful place!" Tourand explained. "I've come from Weyburn... and I love Weyburn, it's a great place to grow a family it's large but small enough to feel part of the community and that's what I feel about Carlyle."

"I even like Carlyle better than Weyburn now, it's small enough, it's got all the amenities. If you listen to the people from outside of Carlyle when they come here they can't believe how much this little town has and I'm pumped about the town. I love the town myself..."

Tourand has become an integral member of the community over the years having been involved with the snowmobile club for a year, while he is currently the president of the golf course and is also president of the Chamber of Commerce.

This is part of the reason why Tourand decided to put his name in for Town Council at this point in time.

"One of the reasons we started up the Chamber was to do with the really inflated property values that SAMA did and what it did was really affect the business owners in town here where the property taxes for businesses literally doubled..."

"The council does a very very good job, I just don't think there were enough business people on council to see what that assessment was going to do to the business community and I just felt that with the position coming open now it could benefit council and the town to have somebody with a business background on council."

Though he had been encouraged in the past by others to run for Town Council, it wasn't until last year's tax concerns coupled with this year's council vacancy that Tourand felt it was the right time.

"I've been in the past, the last two elections, I have been approached by several people asking me to run," Tourand explained. "I didn't think that was the right time, but with all of this going on once the position opened I've again had people asking me to run."

Though he feels the council does a good job, a stronger tie to the business community may offer increased understanding between everyone within the community.

However, overall Tourand simply feels if people enjoy living in a community they should volunteer and take the time to continue making the town a great place to live.

"I just believe a person should give back and this is something I would like to try," Tourand said.