Yesterday, Susan Flowers retired after serving with FCSS for over 20 years.

Today, she's a declared candidate for town council.

Flowers shocked the majority of the people at her retirement party when she announced she would be running for town council and the long-time advocate of improving the quality of of life here was greeted with a standing ovation.

"There were a few people who knew, but most of the room was quite shocked. I got a standing ovation, which is really awesome."

She also received many offers to help with her campaign.

"I had quite a few offers tonight to help so I'm certainly going to take them up on it. There are so many people I've worked with over the years that I'd love to have involved."

Flowers is still formulating her campaign but has interest in the economic, social and environment needs of the community. In particular, she expressed interest in working on youth and seniors issues, both of which were clearly identified as needs by residents in the recent report "Cochrane Cares: A Regional Well-Being Review." Also identified was the need for transit, something she strongly supports.

"I'm really excited about the buses finally coming and I really want to be part of that planning and making sure we have the best possible routes and service because it's been needed for so long."

"I'm going to ride that bus all day long."

She wants to better understand where the town stands on environmental issues and further explore the grants that may be available for new initiatives, like solar power.

Flowers moved to Cochrane's rural area in 1979, then into town in 1992, serving as the first victims services coordinator before joining FCSS. She joined the town staff the same year as Chief Administrative Officer Julian deCocq, who also recently retired. From that time she has a vast understanding of both the administrative and council sides of the coin and she also knows the background of how the town has evolved over the last few decades.

"I think it would be helpful and with Julian leaving there's so much history going out the door. He and I started the same year so I'm hoping to remind people of some history and to work as a team. I certainly wouldn't criticze anybody for all the hard work they have done, but I'd love be part of going into the future and working to keep Cochrane the best it can be."

"I do like problem solving and I like gathering information and making decisions and I'm hoping I can bring something to the table." 

"I retired from my position,which became quite challenging as we grew, and I felt that I took it as far as I could go. So now I'd like to stay connected with the community and running for council was the right thing to do."

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