Clayton Lazar (R) with his wife Lindsey Lazar (L). Lazar hopes to bring growth to the town and foster a safer community if elected on Nov. 13 (submitted photo/ Clayton Lazar)

By Kenneth Cheung

2024 MUNICIPAL ELECTION

Local first responder focuses on safety and growth in town council run

Oct 21, 2024 | 3:00 PM

A long-serving paramedic and firefighter from the Town of Battleford has decided to vie for a seat in this coming council run.

Clayton Lazar envisions enhancing community safety while fostering commercial growth in the town.

“Through the last 15 years here, I’ve seen the challenges that our community goes through, and I’ve dedicated my life to public service and public safety, and I want to bring that perspective into town,” said Lazar.

As a public servant, he believes he could bring a different perspective to the council as he has dealt with people on all aspects of the emotional spectrum.

“I’ve seen the worst and the best of people,” Clayton said. “What I saw as a paramedic and a firefighter, knowing that there are housing issues here as well in the community, is giving me a really good perspective on how to deal with things.”

Green round up

Here are your Green Party candidates for local constituencies

5h ago

BDO Debt Solutions

Causes of Debt and What to do About It

6h ago

Turtleford man found safe

8h ago

Lazar currently serves on the Battlefords Housing Authority and North Battleford Firefighter Union Local 1756 boards.

With his extensive background, he believes that to nurture commercial growth in Battleford he will need to uplift the town’s potential and advance existing policies to encourage both local and out-of-town businesses to invest.

“Reviewing some of those policies and going over taxes and how we can end regulations on how we can make it easier for the businesses that are already here to continue to grow,” he said.

“We are a smaller community still, but we do have the resources. I believe our town is perfect for a start, and we have the space as well. I think that we have all of that that would be very attractive to new businesses to come, even the ones that are already here, right?”

Lazar also mentioned that smaller Saskatchewan communities like Martinsville and Warman have effectively used their unique traits to boost business growth. He believes learning from their strategies is essential, as similar opportunities exist in Battleford.

“We have great community leaders already and we have thriving businesses that have been here for a very long time, and I think that we can go about building that with communication with other communities that have done that,” he explained.

With his involvement in the Housing Authority, he aims to implement initiatives to make housing more affordable, especially for the older generation, who he says needs more support.

Alongside his ambition for economic development, improving community safety remains a top priority for him. To achieve this, he aims to advocate for establishing a satellite station in town, which would help shorten incident response times.

“With the RCMP, our response times aren’t as abrupt or not as good as it is in Northtown just because the station is in North Battleford. So, I would like to encourage satellite stations for both our RCMP and WPD ambulance to have buildings within our community so our response times are a lot shorter,” Lazar explained.

As he steps up to run in the municipal election, he envisions a brighter future for his children and aims to transform Battleford into a place where more people can feel at home. Lazar said he is open for any ideas and communications from community members. Anyone who would like to talk could email him at claylaz@hotmail.com or call 306-481-4532.

Voting will take place on Nov. 13 at Alex Dillabough Centre in Battleford. Other confirmed candidates include Judy Pruden, Doug Laing, Shelley Boutin-Gervais, Randall Cote, Josh Pernala, Kevin Russell, Mark Coleman and David George.

—

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com