Councillor Dieter Dudy has entered the race to become the next mayor of Kamloops.
He launched his bid to replace the retiring Ken Christian at an event at Riverside Park this morning.
In 2011, Dudy lost to then Mayor Peter Milobar by 235 votes. He was then elected to council in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.
The soon to be 67-year-old Dudy says he knew that when he first ran for council eight years ago, he eventually wanted to take another shot at the Mayor’s chair.
He says there are a number of issues that council has been doing its best to address now which will remain priorities for the next term of council.
“The main ones, obviously you have the homelessness issues, you have the opioid crisis, you have recovering from the business aspect of the pandemic. So many issues that we’re going to be tackling that we’re doing right now and wilt continue to be doing over the next six months,” Dudy said.
“So we will just have a broader look at things and how we’re going to attack them.”
He plans to announce more details about his campaign in the months ahead.
“There isn’t much to tell you yet with respect to what I am going to be doing as Mayor because we still have six months left with this current council and we have a good Mayor that wants to get things done in the meantime,” Dudy added.
“So we’re going to do the business that needs to be done for the city in this next six months and as we go along I will start letting you know exactly what I plan on doing in my term in that office.”
Dudy, who owns Thistle Farms in Westsyde, also noted he is in talks with someone to take over management of the farm, should he be elected as mayor.
“I will of course be at the farmers market every Saturday. So you can always visit your mayor at my stall – not just for vegetables,” he said.
The others who have declared the intent to become Mayor of Kamloops are current councillor Arjun Singh, former councillor Ray Dhaliwal, and businessman Reid Hamer-Jackson.
Incumbent councillor Mike O’Reilly is also considering a run for mayor.
While Ken Christian has said he won’t endorse any candidate for mayor, Dudy has the backing of at least one former Kamloops mayor, in Terry Lake.
Dudy has set up a campaign website at dieterdudyformayor.com.
The 2022 municipal election will take place on Oct. 15.
– With files from Jeff Andreas