It's a week today the new mayor of Cochrane will be selected and candidate Tom Hardy has put his campaign into high gear.

Hardy has taken a leave of absence from his job to continue his push to become mayor and while he's reaching out to residents in conventional ways, he's also trying different tactics to add Xs to his column on Oct. 16. That includes greeting early morning commuters on Hwy. 1A, flashing the sign "Tom Hardy for Mayor."

His campaign has largely been one of consultation with residents about what they see as important issues and finding solutions to the challenges facing the rapidly-growing community. He's enthused by their passionate and about the amount of interest in the election.

Many burning issues have been brought to his attention, like the lack of a women's shelter, the need for a 24/7 urgent care centre, the importance of preserving the Lions rodeo grounds and the need to further enhance the town's recreational faciltiies, like expanding the skateboard park and adding more ball diamonds. Through it all he sees the need for the town to respond with equal passion and to try and foster partnerships to make them a reality.

"I've been made aware of some really big issues that we need to look at," says Hardy. "There are some passionate advocates and we need to respond by understanding their passion and working with them. If it's a service Cochrane really needs I think the town can invest in it."

By working together with these groups he believes the town can find affordable solutions to meet current demands.

"Down the line we can look at doing more, but right now we have so many things on our plate that we need to really look at the priorities and tearing down and building things isn't really the biggest of my highest priorities. I want to look at fixing things we already have."

Refraining from further debt load is also a consideration.

"We're going to need a walk a really thin line with this budget. We need to really look at our spending problem. Going forward with so many different projects we need to look at what can we feasibly do without increasing our debt load. We're getting close to an ominous number."

Yet he doesn't want to take aim at current mayor Ivan Brooker and says he's been treating enough like a punching bag when it comes to the question of the cost of the new aquatic/curling centre. He would like to see more transparency on the construction costs but fully realizes a final tally isn't available and all that can be provided is an interim report.

"At the end of the day, the pool is something we're going to have to work around. It's something that we have, it's a great facility. You have so many people go there daily and appreciating it for what it is. It exists and we're not going to be able to go back in time and tear it down."

He has enjoyed listening to the ideas of council candidates to get a better understanding of their viewpoints because at the end of the day town council has seven voices and must also give serious weight to input from administration.

"In hearing other people answers and their viewpoints, it does really help me develop my answer as a whole. I want to encourage us as council to have these discussions."

He's delighted by the interest in the election.

"I really can't say I've seen so many people being passionate about an election as this year. Something I'd loved to see is record-breaking voter turnout."