Councillor Mike Allen is aiming to be the next mayor of the RMWB.

He’s the second person to announce their intention to run for the seat in October’s election following fellow Councillor Verna Murphy who announced her intentions earlier this month.

After closing the doors on Campbell’s Music, he claims he has an opportunity to focus all his time on the community.

“I’ve been through the good times and the bad and I believe we have what it takes to come back into the good times and make us a strong viable community that people are going to want to move to… to live, work, and play.”

Allen says he understands some may think he’s doing this just to ensure he has income coming in, however, he states he recently started a new business venture which he’ll push to the side if elected.

He plans on releasing a full platform in the coming months, but his main focus will be ensuring the municipality continues supporting local businesses as they try and navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.

This includes continuing on the supports already brought in and helping them with any new challenges that pop up.

“It’s not just the pandemic and the economy, we’ve also seen a significant trend in retail sectors towards online shopping but how can we support those through adapting to change so they are a competitive factor,” said Allen.

Another focus is building on the relationship with industry.

Allen noted it was quite shaky after the attempt to ban all work camps in the region.

“We’ve certainly repaired most of that relationship but I think we can do more, there’s more opportunity there to work with the industry which is the primary driver of this region and will be for many years to come.”

This includes finding a healthy medium for fly-in-fly-out workers.

The election is scheduled for October 18, 2021.