Pierre April has set his sights upon becoming the next mayor of Muenster.Born and raised in Saskatchewan, April lived and worked for a number of years in B.C. and Alberta before coming back to the province of his birth. He has been living in Muenster since 2009 where he is the caretaker at St. Peter's College."I decided to run for mayor because of the lack of people who ran in the last election," April told the Journal on September 26. April is up against two other candidtes for mayor, including incumbent Benno Korte."There's a few things I want to change," he said frankly. "One is the garbage pick-up. There's things we could do here that would make it cheaper for people, instead of having a door-to-door pick-up. I've seen an alternative system that works really well in Prince George."April says looking at better ways to deal with waste removal in the community is both a cost measure and a way to facilitate things for residents, so that they don't have to adhere to certain days and certain times."I'd also like to see a Muenster website," he added, "so we can check up on things happening in the community. For example, to see what went on in the last council meeting: nobody really knows what goes on in these meetings. Set up a more informed website, something that would make things more open, so that people can see what's happening."April said he'd also like to see more small industry in Muenster."They need incentives, though," he said. "We need to make an incentive for them to want to come in, like they did for the mines in Australia. Australia offered the companies 10 years tax-free if they opened up the mines there."Lastly, April feels the new subdivisions that are going in are a costly issue when there are still vacant lots in the heart of the village, or even some lots with potential tear-downs, that should be used first. "I don't see the problem in expanding, but you've got to fill in the empty spots first," April said. "When you expand outside the centre, it's costly. You have to spend money to install the new sewer and water lines, the hydro and gas. The taxpayers are all paying for that, but they're not getting the benefit from it, except for the ones who live there."
