The Port Lambton resident behind the growth of the St. Clair River Trail and its annual run, she wants to take her community service to a new level.
Rose Atkins is running for a seat as a St. Clair Township Ward 2 councillor in the Oct. 22 municipal election.
The former Lambton County health promoter says maintaining St. Clair’s infrastructure — including its recreation buildings and programs — are among her top goals if she’s elected.
Atkins wants to see more women enter the political arena and correct a gender imbalance where 75 per cent of Ontario councillors are male. “I hope to serve as a role model to encourage more female candidates to participate locally,” she says.
Atkins would like to see the current methods of delivering recreation services changed, to reach a wider audience.
Increased use of existing community centres and kitchens, in order to address a growing need to enhance “quality of life” for all residents — including offering healthy aging programs — is part of her platform.
She wants to simplify the delivery of municipal services in St. Clair and bring more openness and “common values” to local government, in order to bring “improved clarity, consistency and transparency” to operations.
“Change is needed,” she adds.
Atkins says she’d been told she has “politics in her blood.” Her father Jim Moran was Warden of Lambton County and Reeve of Sombra, and her brother Steve also served as a St. Clair councillor.
“I know that, for sure, serving the community is in my heart,” Atkins says.
“We are so fortunate to have the beautiful and accessible waterfront parks where we can watch shipping traffic from around the world travel through our community,” she says.