By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Ray Farmere

Oct 19, 2018 | 4:31 PM

NanaimoNewsNOW reached out to every municipal candidate to present an easy-to-read and informative guide for our readers to help with the upcoming municipal election. All candidates were asked the same four questions, which are presented here without being edited. 

Biography: 

Hi Everyone my name is Ray Farmere I moved to Nanaimo in 2001 and love it here. I am currently a Technical consultant at VIU. I love Nanaimo, and I want to help make Nanaimo a memorable place for everyone that comes here. It has so much to offer and with everyone working together we can make it amazing to its fullest potential that is why I run for mayor. I was born in Comox but moved here because of the fact there was not much work there.

Question 1: Describe, in detail, what you view as the most important duties associated with the role of being a councillor/mayor?

The most important thing first of all is governance and the effectiveness of the government. In order for the government to function smoothly, everybody needs to work together this requires active listening on the part of the Mayor anyone in this position needs to listen to what his team members the councilors have to say because the councilors are elected by the people of nanaimo and speak for the people.

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Question 2: Describe your vision for Nanaimo beyond the next four years

My vision for the next four years is to lower homelessness, second improve transportation and departmental spending across the board, improve communication between the councilors and the people, and improving tourism.

Question 3: If you were making a list of your top three strategic priorities for the incoming Council to focus on over the next four years, what would they be and why?

My 3 priorities, lowering homelessness, improving communication and operation of local government, improving transportation. I need to lower homeless which will show two things first that as a community Nanaimo cares about people and also it wants people to work together to make downtown look better which could improve the look of the area and tourism within it.

Improving the operation of local government will increase the amount of business that we get done at city hall allowing more immediate issues to not be neglected.

Improving transportation will give people more access to other areas of the Island which will help with commuting then more people will be able to find jobs and go to school.

Question 4: What is your strategy for dealing with the intense pressure and scrutiny placed upon elected officials, especially from those who may not agree with your decisions or viewpoints?

My strategy more dealing with intense pressure is to deal with largest issues first. But also delegating some of the smaller issues that are more immediate to councilors to work on.

If some do not agree with my decisions I will ask them what they don’t like specifically and then ask them what they would do to improve it, because I said the mayor is there to here what the people have to say and he is working for the people.

Then I would look how critisms could be used for me to improve my decisions because when making a decision all angles must be considered.

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