Mackenzie, B.C. – After two terms on council, 61 year old Pat Crook is seeking the mayor’s chair in the District of Mackenzie.

  Makenzie mayoral candidate Pat Crook

Crook, a former power engineer who took early retirement when the pulp and paper mill shut down in 2008, says he’s running for the top job because he thinks he still has a lot to contribute.

He says community engagement is a top priority.

“I believe council needs to promote the broad range of community participation and the sharing of information.”

Crook, who for the past three years has also served as deputy mayor, says he’d like to build on the success of the district’s “Mackenzie in Motion program.”

“We basically polled the entire community about how they want to see the community in the future. And at one meeting alone we had 10% of the citizens of the town show up discussing things like subdivisions, health care problems, volunteering, all kinds of things.”

He says it resulted in a series of strategies centred around things like good governance, fiscal health and balanced budgets.

Another goal of Crook’s is to promote Mackenzie as a great place to “live and work in order to attract industry and employees.”

As for his sense of how the campaign has gone so far he says he’s received a lot of positive feedback from everyone he’s met on the street so far.

“They smile and give me a wave of congratulations and I keep telling them I have to win the election before they congratulate me.”

Crook’s two competitors in the race are Daniel Hansen and Danny O’Connor.