After winning a by-election to replace long-time Coun. Ted Zurakowski in May 2023, Darren Solomon hopes the next election will result in a longer stay in office.
Solomon officially announced his re-election bid for Ward 8 on Thursday. Solomon said he liked serving on council, but felt he was just getting started with only one year in office.
“When I was elected just over a year ago, I was excited to be given the opportunity to be a part of the developments happening in Prince Albert and that hasn’t changed,” Solomon said.
“l am quite excited to put my name forward again, of course. I haven’t been on council that long yet, so I do feel there’s things that I haven’t been able to accomplish and I need to keep working on.”
Solomon said the past year had a steep learning curve, but he remains committed to working for the residents of the West Hill and the entire city. He said his first year in council was a good one, and he wants the opportunity for four more years.
“Being part of the council has certainly given me a different perspective on all the work that’s been done to various issues that we face and some of the growth that we face,” he said.
Solomon said the next council will need to be willing to work with other levels of government to reduce or end homelessness and crime, improve community safety, and increase mental health supports.
He said all four of those issues come up quite often when talking to voters, and he plans to keep working on all those issues if re-elected.
Solomon said he’s also keenly following progress on the new OSB plant for Prince Albert, and wants to see Prince Albert’s downtown revitalized.
Although the City Streetscape plan is several years old, Solomon still supports revitalizing the area.
“There’s a number of things that need to happen,” he said. “The logistics of it right now are the infrastructure. Underneath the street has to be addressed before we can talk about what happens on the surface. There’s a bit of logistics to that, but once we get to that point, any incentives that we can offer to the downtown to bring business back, I think we do some small things now but I think we can enhance those and encourage people and just make them feel safe again downtown and just bring back what we need there.”
Solomon has been a volunteer in the community and spent many years with the Prince Albert Kinsmen working on fundraising for many local projects and developments including Telemiracle. He has a master’s degree in education and is currently the Director of Education with the Sturgeon Lake Education Alliance.
Solomon is the fourth sitting city councillor to announce his bid for re-election. Tony Head in Ward 3, Blake Edwards in Ward 6, and Dawn Kilmer in Ward 7 have all announced their intent to seek another term. Ward 4 Coun. Don Cody is the only incumbent who will not run again.
Brent Zbaraschuk in Ward 4 is the only non-incumbent to formally announce a bid.
Prince Albert’s next municipal election is scheduled for Nov. 13.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
