Ross Forrest has decided to try for another term as Mayor of Lake Cowichan.
"I gave it lots of thought. I love my community and I still like doing it and want to do good things for my town," he said.
Forrest is not starting out by making promises, but he has one project he'd like to help bring to fruition in the west Cowichan town.
"What I would really like to see for our community is a senior care facility of some sort. I really believe that people who live in Lake Cowichan want to remain here. It's difficult when people have to move away to spend their last few years somewhere else. It's not an impossible dream."
Forrest said he's happy to run on council's six-year record, and particularly with regard to the collaborative efforts that joined together every part of the community.
"Personally I'm extremely proud of what our council has achieved. Sure, a lot of it is very visible in town but even that's not what I'm most proud of."
That was the response to the Lake's remaining physicians moving to Duncan. It's not an uncommon problem for small towns, but Lake Cowichan dealt with it in a unique way.
"It was an initiative of the Town. I set up the original meeting at the hall. I helped establish and was cochair of Choose Cowichan Lake, which I'm immensely proud of that group," Forrest said.
"To go from what we had to what we have now is unbelievable."
Lake Cowichan has become known as a community that is willing to work hard and work with a variety of agencies in that regard, he said.
"That is why, in my own personal belief, we have a better opportunities for senior care. I'm not speaking for Island Health on this, but surely they see that we want to get things done here. Our citizens' health means a lot to us."
Forrest is looking forward to the election process.
"I really believe it's good for a community to see one and I think our record can speak for itself. In the last few years we've gotten about $3 million in grants and that's not counting the $3 million that the Ministry spent on the road so we've actually done quite well."
He said that now that revitalizing the downtown is done, "now it's time to spread out into the neighbourhoods and fix up other parts of the town."