Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth is seeking his fourth consecutive term in office, saying he wants to continue working on the issues facing the community and help see Kitimat move forward.
Germuth said he enjoys the challenge of serving as mayor and believes there is still plenty of work to be done in the community.
“I enjoy the challenge. I really do. Kitimat, we are clearly moving forward, slowly but surely,” Germuth said. “I just think there’s lots that can be done here and I think we have a pretty good team in the District of Kitimat. So I’d like to be a part of that and see things further move forward for Kitimat.”
Germuth said seniors housing would be his top priority if he is re-elected.
He pointed to a proposed seniors facility from the Kitimat Valley Housing Society, which has been submitted to the provincial government. Germuth said the project was among housing projects that were cancelled because construction had not yet started.
“I think our biggest issue is seniors housing. So the Kitimat Valley Housing Society has an outstanding seniors facility that they would like to move through,” Germuth said. “It was submitted to the government, but of course, the government cancelled every housing project that hadn’t been started already. I would definitely want to push them on that to make sure that gets built.”
Germuth said additional seniors housing is needed in the community.
“I think that’s our number one issue. We need more housing for our seniors,” he said.
He also identified aging infrastructure as another major issue for Kitimat, including roads, streets, water lines and sewer systems.
“Secondly, I’d have to say it’s our infrastructure for sure. Roads and streets, of course, and your water lines and sewer lines underneath, et cetera,” Germuth said. “Kitimat is just over 70 years old now, so our age is catching up with us, no doubt. So we need to start moving on a lot of our infrastructure.”
Looking ahead to the end of another term, Germuth said he wants residents to feel proud of where they live and see Kitimat continuing to move in what he describes as the right direction.
“I would hope Kitimat would be the place where the residents would be able to look back and go, you know what? I am really proud to be a resident of Kitimat. I like this community,” Germuth said. “I can see that we’re not perfect like any other place, but clearly, we are doing well, and we’re going in the right direction.”
Germuth is seeking another term as Kitimat mayor in the October 17 municipal election.
