Council candidate Miles Chester has received a wealth of feedback from his online "Miles Survey" he launched on Sept. 17 and it has lead him to support an initiative to develop a women's shelter in Cochrane.

Chester says he has received about 1,700 views of his survey and it brought to his attention the need for a women's shelter.

"There is a very large need for a women's shelter right here in our town," says Chester. "That's coming through loud and clear. We're working through that issue right now."

"I've given my assurance that if I get elected to council I will champion their cause."

While he's not the first candidate to support the need of a women's shelter, it's one he plans to discuss during tonight's Cochrane Eagle Election Forum at the Cochrane Lions Events Centre.

There were nine questions on the survey and it asks about infrastructure and social needs as well as how residents want the town to deal with issues surrounding the planned residential build out of Rocky View County surrounding Cochrane.

"The bottom line is I don't have a right to talk about the community unless I have an idea of what the community wants, so we decided to go and ask the community if they were happy about certain things. We made sure we were out asking the questions just to make sure we're on the right track."

The ninth question left the door open to feedback on areas not cover in the other eight specific ones. That's where he learned more about the women's shelter. Other needs brought to his attention here is the need for such things as a seniors centre, community centre/hub and more crosswalks.

"We had 72 responses from that question and we're still going through them and getting back to people."

Chester plans to post the results of his survey shortly.

Videos becoming more popular

Incumbent Morgan Nagel isn't the only one utilizing videos to promote his campaign.

Chester just released one that sums up his platform of infrastructure, dealing with growth and Rocky View County, but also delves briefly into other social needs of the community.

Since nomination day, candidate Marni Fedeyko has aired a video to complement her campaign. It depicts a cross-section of residents speaking about what they like about Cochrane and what they would like to see added or improved. It's all tied into the theme "Working Together" and illustrates her aim of running a positive campaign.

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Cochrane Women's Shelter Looks to Assess Needs