Municipal election season is upon us. Barring any pandemic tragedies, on May 10 Sackville will be heading to the polls to cast votes for the next group of people to sit around the town council table, even if it is a virtual one for the time being. In an effort to help inform you about who your candidates are, CHMA news plans to speak with all 12 council and two mayoralty candidates in the coming weeks.
Check out all our local elections coverage here.
This time we speak with council candidate Ken Hicks:
You can find more information about Ken Hicks at his Facebook group.
TRANSCRIPT:
CHMA: Ken Hicks, thanks for joining us.
KEN HICKS: Thank you for having me.
CHMA: Let’s start off by just asking you to tell us a bit about yourself.
KH: So I guess I’ll start with my wife and I. We’ve lived in Sackville for most of our lives. My wife Megan is an RN. She’s working as the community health nurse in Fort Folly. But you also see her working at the Sackville Hospital, as well as the extramural program here in Sackville.
We have two boys together, Grayson, who’s 12 and Blake who’s nine. Both attend our local schools, Marshview Middle School and Salem Elementary. And both are actively involved in sports here in town. They play as many sports as they possibly can.
As for myself, I’ve worked for the province of Nova Scotia for the last 19 years. Within those years I’ve been employed as a correctional officer for the province, a deputy sheriff, and I’m currently employed as a motor vehicle officer in the province of Nova Scotia. And prior to working in Nova Scotia, I worked in the province of New Brunswick as a correctional officer for three years.
In my professional life, I’ve served in various union capacities over the years, mostly early on. I’m a member of the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union and I was very active, early on in those years. For my local, I held various positions over the years, president, vice president, shop steward. And I’ve been a part of many committees over the years within my working capacity. I’ve been occupational health and safety representative, I’ve been part of the policy and procedures committees, and also helped revise some of the standard operating procedures at the correctional facility that I worked at.
My current community involvement, still ongoing… I’ve been actively involved with Sackville minor hockey club for a number of years now. I’ve served as president and coached quite a few of the different levels that Sackville minor hockey offers. I’ve helped coach with some of the programs the Sackville has put on. And I’ve also helped coach with the Sackville minor baseball and soccer.
CHMA: All right, that’s a lot of activities. And you’re a true cross border citizen here. You are working in Nova Scotia.
KH: That’s correct.
CHMA: Now, do you have any history with council, have you run before or had any previous involvement?
KH: No, I have not, other than I try to watch a lot of the council meetings streamed on Youtube. I try to watch as many of them as I can. I’ve been interested in politics for quite a few years but I haven’t been involved in the political scene in Sackville.
CHMA: Not yet. What made you decide to run this year?
KH: Well, I guess like, like I said earlier, I’ve always had an interest in politics, mostly with federal politics, provincial politics, and, of course, the American political scene. I’ve always kind of thought to myself, wouldn’t it be neat to become more involved, instead of just being that campfire politician that likes to give his opinion? So it’s something that’s always been in the back of my mind for some time.
I pride myself on honesty and integrity. And I pride myself in being someone that wants to have all the available information that I can have in making decisions. And I think that’s something that would be important at the municipal level. Not only in the municipal level, but all levels when you’re making decisions. I think with having all the information available, would help in making decisions that can affect people positively and negatively. And, of course, we always hope for the positive but it’s very important that when you’re in those positions, that you’re trusted to make those decisions with the best available information that you can have. And that’s something that I’ve prided myself in, not only in my professional career, but in my volunteer capacities as well.
I’ve learned over the years… I really try to be an active listener and I want to draw on people’s experiences, their past experiences, their expertise. And, you know, it’s something that I always think about that I learned a long time ago. Most recently, one of the guys that I work with in Sackville minor hockey, he had said it, and I heard it a long time ago… It’s something that really rings true. And it’s when you’re looking after the small things, when it comes time to make the decision for the big things, you know, because you’ve looked after those small things, it really helps you arrive at those decisions more easily.
CHMA: Do you have issues that have come up in Sackville that you’re hoping to highlight in your campaign?
KH: There’s some issues, certainly, that seem to be more at the forefront right now. And of course, you’re hearing lots right now especially about Sackville Hospital, with the closure this weekend that they had. And you’re hearing lots about some of the unfortunate circumstances that happened with the Sackville Fire Department. And most recently, a lot of people are talking about the decision with the bylaw ban. So those are things that obviously I’m going to address, and I have addressed some of them already through my Facebook page. But there’s plenty of things to work on, that the town can work on. And that’s something that I’m hoping I can help with.
CHMA: The bylaw ban that you’re referring to, is that the the skateboard ban?
KH: So that’s another item I guess that I just forgot to mention. But I was talking about the bylaw ban with drive thrus, that seem to be a centre of attention right now.
CHMA: So the ban on drive thru, that’s within the town’s plan. Do you have a particular take on that? What are you hoping to see if you if you’re elected, in terms of that issue?
KH: For me myself, I would be looking to revisit that. It’s something I’d like to have a greater understanding of. Briefly, in some of the research that I’ve been doing lately, trying to get caught up, when I was reviewing the town’s strategic plan, it had mentioned some values that the town stands for. And within some of those values, you know, it’s very much relatable to growth and proper growth and stuff like that. And that’s something that I think when it comes to revisiting a bylaw, or something that has been determined in the past, it’s something that we have to look at. And it’s something that obviously, the community was upset with, and something that I think if all the pertinent information was perhaps properly analyzed, that we probably could have arrived at a better decision.
CHMA: Now, can I ask what are your favourite and least favourite things about Sackville?
KH: Sackville… being a resident for the majority of my life, you’re always drawn back to Sackville. You hear that from people that have moved from town and they’ve been gone for 20 years or longer. And they always say Sackville has this draw to continuously bring me back, and I don’t know if I can put into words what that is, but I think people that live here they understand what I’m saying.
We have a lot of things to be proud of, with local schools, with a local hospital. We have a university that’s consistently ranked as the best undergraduate university in Canada. We now have a renowned music festival, Sappyfest. There’s film society, various art galleries, independent music… There’s just there’s so much going on in such a small town. It’s stuff that we should take great pride in, and stuff that many of us do take great pride in.
Sackville, it’s a very picturesque town. People take great pride and the warm feeling that Sackville gives you whether you’re just visiting or whether you’re living here, Sackville just always feels like home.
So my least favourite… I don’t know if I could say that I have a least favorite thing about Sackville. I guess something that perhaps has concerned me would be perhaps we’ve missed some opportunities to grow here and Sackville.
I think growth is something that we have to consider if we’re going to remain a vibrant and sustainable community. We’ve had some important industry leave the town over the years. We’ve seen local shops close. We have our youth leaving to find opportunities elsewhere. And, you know, our hospital is under constant threat right now of closing or at the very least reducing services. So it’s important that we recognize these problems and we have to work together to solve them.
Sackville has the potential to be somewhat of a hub here in the Maritimes, we have tremendous potential to grow our community, our thought processes. We can grow our business community, commerce, agriculture. We really could have it all. So I think in order to have it all, you know, we have to make sure that we are working together. As I’ve said on a few occasions, that we’re getting all the information we can, so that we start making decisions that will keep Sackville on the map.
CHMA: All right, is there anything else you’d like people in Sackville to know, Ken?
KH: If they have any questions or comments, I’d love to see them visit my facebook group, Vote Ken Hicks. Also, they can contact me through my through my email, which is votekenhicks@gmail.com.
I’d really love to hear from people. I’d really like to have some conversations. Through conversations, that’s how we gain information. That’s how we know what’s important to people. And you know, once we once we gain all that information, and we know what’s important, these are things we can work towards to help make Sackville and help keep Sackville, in our opinion, the best place to live.
CHMA: All right. Well, thanks very much for your time today. We appreciate it.
KH: Thank you.
