Rocky View County (RVC) division 9 candidate Colleen Munro is shocked by accusations of her campaign being funded by Rocky View 2020 and adamantly denies the rumour.

She was forced to defend herself while door knocking and again later in the week while hosting an open house and says she takes pride in being independent.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," says Munro.  "Yes, I have my notice of intent, yes I am taking campaign donations, but I am being very careful that they come from individuals, not people that I know who may have the perception of trying iinfluence my vote at council."

"It is my intention to spend all of the money these individuals are giving me and I'll probably have to anty up some of my own money because running a good campaign costs money."

She also made her position clear while hosting an open house on Oct. 1 at the Weedon Pioneer Community Hall, about 10 km north of Cochrane.

"I ended off the day by saying I am not a yes man, I'm an independent woman and people who know me realize I'm going to bring an independent voice to Rocky View County. I won't be in anyone's pocket."

In her bid to unseat incumbent Bruce Kendall, Munro has been doing extensive doorknocking between wrapping up her duties as chair of the board of trustees of Rocky View Schools (RVS).

"I'm serious about winning this division and I want to hear what people have to say. That's why I'm going doorknocking."

She is deliberately staying away from talking about specific issues.

"I know they're out there, but I want people to know that I'm a decision making that looks at data before I make a decision. So many time people go straight to the solution without understanding the whole picture. That's my MBA training, that's my business training coming out."

She does believe the council needs to abide by their policies in making their decisions, something they tend to stray from. If they find fault in a policy, she says go back, review the data, correct it and move on. Its this same approach she took while serving on the RVS board of trustees for 10 years.

In the case of Rocky View's vast supply of aggregate, she says the county must get a policy in place.

"There needs to be an aggregate resource policy. This council has not been able to put one together and that policy should inform all the rest of the gravel pits."

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

"Not only gravel pits, but area structure plans and land-use bylaws. All of those are the strategic road maps that council should be able to base their motions upon. What I see happening is adhoc decisions being made at council that change those area structure plans or land-use bylaws. Where's the consistency? Where's the playbook? How do people know where they stand when they come to do business with the county?

She also believes RVC councillors need to work closer together.

"I think the county council could work a lot better if the councillors were a little more collaborative."

Incumbent Bruce Kendall and Crystal Kisselare also running for the seat.