The former Director of Emergency Management for the RMWB is looking to get elected to Wood Buffalo council.

Rene Wells is the sixth person to announce their intention to run for one of six Ward One council seats in this year’s municipal election.

He joins Joseph Mugodo, Sandy Bowman, Jennifer Vardy, Funke Banjoko, and Alex McKenzie.

Arriving with his family back in 2007, Wells tells Mix News his gained a lot of appreciation for politics working for the RMWB, the RCMP, and a local Indigenous company.

“Whether in the private or the public sector I realize and fully understand the role that government has and I just want to give back to the community.”

He’s focusing on three priorities.

This includes creating a ‘vibrant, healthy, productive community workforce.’

Wells also wants to see the municipality improve infrastructure to ensure events like the Horse River wildfire and the 2020 flood don’t happen again.

“When I was the director of emergency management protections from the dangers of floods and wildfires were two of the four priorities that my team had identified in 2009 when we built a plan for the region… 12 years later, they’re still at the top of the list for anyone I would imagine.”

His last priority is improving the relationships with Indigenous peoples, the federal and provincial governments, as well as industry.

Wells believes the RMWB already has a strong relationship with its Indigenous communities, adding their can always be improvements. However, work is needed when it comes to industry.

“I’ve found the relationships that council has embarked on to be more adversarial and oppositional, I hope to see that approach change to one that’s more positive and productive.”

The election is scheduled for October 18, 2021.