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PROFILE: Bob Kendel, Grand Forks Council

1. Please give a brief summary of who you are and why you have decided to run for office.
 
Hello Grand Forks. Who is Bob Kendel? I was born and raised in small town Saskatchewan. After high school I attended trade school and achieved journeyman status in several trades. My wife and I are blessed with three grandsons five, three and newborn. We have had a rich and varied career, owning several different businesses the last one was a HVAC/Fireplace company in Saskatoon that we owned for 23 years and were fortunate to sell.
 
Our initial move was to Kelowna where we lived for 4 years, I was privileged to sit on our strata council for two years. Over the years we travelled through Grand Forks many times and always liked the feeling we experienced when spending time here. The opportunity arose for us to make a change and we decided to relocate to Grand Forks five years ago. We established Riverside Heating and Air Conditioning and are thankful for the support of the community.
 
2. What is your background? Have you held office before? If not what skills do you bring to the job if you are elected?
 
I am running for council because I see unlimited and untapped potential for Grand Forks and area.  I clearly see a vision of a prosperous, vibrant community that we are proud to call home. My strengths are the ability to see the big picture, and with innovative ideas, leadership and cooperation make things happen.
 
3. What do you think are the top three challenges facing the city/region/school district in the upcoming term?
 
The city and area are both affected by the departure of our young for lack of opportunity and our seniors for lack of adequate heath care.
 
Our ageing infrastructure combined with a shrinking tax base pose serious funding issues.
 
4. How do you think you can impact these challenges?
 
I believe we need to revitalize the agricultural heritage of the area. One way is to new crops such as Haskap berries, these are the new super berry high in antioxidants. There are exciting ground floor opportunities available now for enterprising farmers to take advantage of getting in first in a potentially lucrative industry. By pursuing a value chain concept we can establish processing facilities for Haskap products, creating new jobs.
 
I believe we need to exploit our position on one of the busiest highways in Canada to promote our tourism industry. We need to welcome new business and industry with a policy of cooperation and willingness to make things happen.
 
A healthy city with a vibrant community can only be achieved with vision, innovation, cooperation and hard work anchored by industry, agriculture tourism and above all people working toward a common goal.
 
5. If you could describe yourself in three words what would they be?
 
6. Other comments that you feel are important to the voters.
 
Together we ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Please vote on Nov. 19.
Sincerely,

Bob Kendel