Randall Noble

Randall Noble visits the Porch. He is running for the first time and thinks that Medicine Hat needs a temporary tax freeze to look at the affordability crisis in our city. He wants the city council as a whole to look at some of our social issues and work with the boots on the ground organizations to see if there are some solutions. 

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Transcript

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Yeah, we would have to look at off site levies. Maybe, maybe like a tax freeze for them. Possibly. If we could make it work somehow. There's a bunch of different things we could probably do, but, especially cut the red tape. I know that's been a common theme this election campaign. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie, late, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. And joining me on the porch now is Randall Noble, a candidate for medicine at city council, one of 39 hopefuls. But you're also one of the younger candidates, which I find encouraging. What got you into the political arena? I've always kind of watched it growing up and, I kind of thought about it the last election running, but I knew I wasn't quite ready yet. And I just feel like now is the right time, and we do need some, younger viewpoints in council, and it's good to see a bunch of us younger candidates stepping up as well. We were talking just before we started recording here. I asked you how the campaign has been going, and I've asked you, if it was what you expected. Yeah, it's what I expected. Plus a little bit more. I mean, there's lots of events, but it's good to get out to those and hear what the citizens are saying and their main concerns and, different viewpoints from all ages. Now knocking on doors. That's part of the campaign. How's that going for you? Not the greatest. It's about maybe a 30% answer rate. And it's kind of intimidating because you don't also want to wake up any children and have dogs barking. So we've made the decision that we're just going to put the fliers in the mailbox or the door. And then they can read it and reach out, hopefully if they have questions, concerns. Yeah. We don't want to wake up any of those babies. I know what it's like. Yeah. You have a two year old, I think he told me. Yeah. He'll be two in December. You've had to step out of your comfort zone to do this? Yes. I'm not the greatest public speaker, as you'll probably see in some of the interviews, I stumble. But, it's, increasing my public speaking skills, obviously, and, giving me a unique outlook and, experience here. I think what we're looking for here is to find out more what's in the heart of Randall Noble. Yeah. So I was born and raised here in Medicine Hat, and, I just love this city so much. And I want to see it grow and succeed. Right. And I want my kids to stay here. And there's a lot of people that have said their kids have to leave and go to other cities to pursue either education, jobs. And unfortunately, it's not a good thing for Medicine Hat. So I would like to be a part of the solution to try and bring that back and keep people here. So how do we do that? What's your ideas? Well, we definitely have to get business growth here. Higher paying jobs. Obviously, if we can get some of those in first, it will do that trickle effect of bringing in the medium and low paying jobs. And the more jobs we have in the city brings in more people, because more jobs equals more people needed to do these jobs. And that will help increase the population as well. And, maybe partnering up with the college and see what we can do to assist them in keeping students here and, offer more programs, maybe, or expand a bit more. There has been much talk in some of the forums about incentives offering incentives to, developers industry to come to Medicine Hat. Would you be in favor of that and how far would you go? Yeah, I definitely be in favor of it. It has to be beneficial to the businesses opening, but also to the city. Right? We can't just, make it so that it's a deficit for us, obviously. Yeah, we would have to look at Off-Site levies. Maybe, maybe like a tax freeze for them. Possibly. If we could make it work somehow. There's a bunch of different things we could probably do, but, especially cut the red tape. I know that's been a common theme this election campaign. We have been hearing from, several people who, are in the race who are also involved in business and some of the hurdles that they've had to jump over in order to get their businesses started. And, do you have a solution for that? Have you had any experience yourself in running into roadblocks at City Hall? Not myself for, say, running in roadblocks at City Hall? I have help open restaurants here in Medicine Hat and even in Edmonton. And, I mean, it was probably more challenging here. And they they probably hit more roadblocks here than, say, when we were trying to open in Edmonton or Winnipeg, the restaurants I helped open. And, yeah, I feel like we kind of need to do that one shop stop kind of thing for businesses and have all that information ready for them at the beginning. There's no reason they need to be finding out 3 or 4 months in that they now need this and this and this. Right. Every day they aren't open, they're losing money. And so is the city. Technically. Yeah. Because when you bring in the business, as you say, that increases the tax base, that gives you money to pay for other things because the other side of your platform is that you've also vowed that you would not vote for a tax hike. You would freeze taxes. Yeah. I said, we need to do a, temporary tax freeze. Come up with a fair, gradual plan for what works for businesses, the citizens and also the city. But in that plan, we also have to show that we're using those tax dollars effectively, to grow Medicine Hat and not just throwing that money away. We did see a tax freeze during the pandemic, and then they had to play catch up. So that is something that has to be in your mind as you talk. Know I'm not going to freeze taxes. But there's the other shoe that has to fall. Right. And that's why I'm at that temporary tax freeze. I'm not going to promise a three year tax rate, because I know then we're going to have to play catch up and it's going to be even worse off. So, maybe if we can do a temporary one and then look at different solutions to help the affordability crisis here. That would be great. Leader. That's the thing people have been talking about. They can't afford a 5.7% tax hike. They can't afford higher utility rates. That leads into one of the things where we have seen people maybe having to leave their homes and live, sleep rough, I guess, is the term that they've used. We've seen the people out on the streets and Madison that. What are your thoughts on that? It's sad. I feel like we need as a city, as a council, we need to work with the local nonprofits, see what the issues they're facing are, and if there's a way we can support them in doing that. And then we also need to reach out to the provincial and federal government for funding and support as well. It's not fair just to kind of leave it on the nonprofits to deal with. Infrastructure is another, thing that you have spoken about. Make sure that what I guess is the underpinning of our city is in good shape. Yeah. So I'm more for repairing roads, sidewalks, maintaining the landscaping, not seeing a bunch of the weeds like we have over the last four years. Growing everywhere. And not narrowing roads. I rather see that money fixing the roads and sidewalks. The, Division Avenue debacle that some have called boondoggle. And you have any thoughts on how that came down and how it affected our city? Yeah, I'm not a fan of it. Even in my small SUV, I've hit that corner without snow and ice. So, when the snow and ice falls, what happens then? Right? Like that? It's already so narrow. You have to do a wide turn to even get through. And, yeah, I don't know. I feel like once the snow and ice comes, we're going to see a lot more collisions at that corner. What? Do you think is your greatest strength? Leading by example and throwing my hands and then getting dirty when I need to, in my career, even as a manager, I'm in a very hands on manager. If I if I win it, do it. I'm going to expect my staff to do it. So you're lead by example? Yes. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about your business background. You referred to opening restaurants. You've been in the hospitality industry. Yeah. So I've have about 14 years of, management in hospital and marketing. And after restaurants, I decided to throw myself a curveball and took over office manager at a local, retirement home here in the city. And I was there for three years and learned that side and, see the struggles that they go through every day, even the seniors living there with, transportation as well. And, now I'm back working for a local business, doing management, marketing. Marketing. How would you market the city of Medicine that. We have to market it as the friendly city, like we have to market it as a place that is actually open for business. And the advantages that we do have here, like we own our own utilities and we should be able to market that and, use it to our advantage to attract, businesses. Most places don't have that advantage. You've been watching over the last four years. What would you say the mistakes were made? And how do we learn from them? The biggest mistake is over the last four years that I believe is there was no collaboration. For the most part, you have to be able to collaborate. Not even just with our code Council members. But you have to collaborate with the administration team and the citizens to be successful. You mentioned transit and how you've seen the struggle of some seniors have in getting around the city. Transit is something that really hasn't been talked about a lot in this campaign. I, I've heard that some of the people in the transit department feel like they're the forgotten child that, within the city. Any thoughts on how we make things better? I believe what we need to do is we need to have open communication with the transit department and listen to their concerns and actually see what they see and hear every day. And maybe they have an idea how we can fix it, and make things more effective. And, grow, for them. Have you taken a bus in the city? Have you tried? I haven't recently, no. I've been pretty lucky being able to drive and having a kiddo. It's just easier to drive. But, it's been quite a few years since taking the bus. And that was a good experience. Back then. Yeah. I mean, the city was a lot quieter then. So when I did take the bus, it wasn't terrible. If you were to be elected as, or a member of the city council, you'd be, having to put hands on to the utilities. And there's the municipally controlled corporation idea that's been floated with several options is to maybe taking some of that off the hands of, city council members. Would you be comfortable with that? No, I'm not for the MCC. I believe the city needs to maintain control. Maybe we have an industry expert or consultant, consult with us every once in a while to make sure we're on the right track. But I do not believe that we should hand off our utilities. So you're all for diving in, learning all the nuances of running an energy business? Yeah. If you're not learning something new every day, you're not doing something right. Okay. One of the big tickets that has been talked about and, City council has recently, pushed to the head a little bit with some money is is, moving towards a South Side recreation center. Is that money well spent in the view of Randall Noble? That's a tough one. I believe if it was a multi-use year round facility, it would be effective in proper dollar usage. But since it's just outside and probably only going to be able to be used for three, four months a year, I don't believe it's, well, use money. So if you're elected, would you try to get them to revisit that direction? Yeah, I would definitely get them to try and revisit that direction. Why would we spend all this money and not be able to use it year round and make it effective? So would you think bigger? Maybe add some ice sheets, make it a multi sport facility? Yeah. Ice sheets. Curling rinks maybe I don't, running track something more that is going to attract more people to it. Not just one group, right? Not everyone. Just like swimming. So yeah. Exhibition stampede has been a frequent visitor to City council over the last year, looking to get some money to improve and add to their facility on the south side of Medicine Hat. If Rand Lobel was sitting at the city council table, what would he tell them? Medicine. That exhibition stampede. I feel like there's a lot of questions that haven't been asked for that project. Like, did they see this coming? Have they started saving money for this so that they're contributing to, and what benefit is it for the citizens if we do try and support you and what's our return on investment as a city? Right. I mean, I was at the Stampede this last year and watching the hypnotist show, and the little guy went running in the field, and I walked over and the grandstand wasn't very full. Right. So, we need to be able to know that it's going to be full and that they're going to bring in shows that maybe people more want to see and, make it worth the wild money they're asking for. Sammy's Solar Project is another item that has been a key issue in this campaign. The city has taken steps towards, perhaps developing that as as a resource center city, thumbs up or thumbs down. I need more information on this AMA solar project before I give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. Do I agree that we need to look at going to some solar? Yes, we need to look at all avenues of, energy production that we can, if it and if it was a lot funded by grants or, funding available, I would probably do a big thumbs up. So you're in favor of, developing of alternative energy? Yes. While maintaining our own gas and electric. Yeah. Okay. The, job of communicating to the public, that is another platform, that another plank in your platform. How would you do that if you're elected? Yeah. Open communication. Obviously, in every job I've had, I've have, open door policy for, customers, staff members, coal management, whichever. So I would definitely have that open to the public. They can they would be able to reach out by email, phone, set up an appointment, come meet with me. I believe in council meetings. We have to have an open session where they can express their concerns and possibly even looking at having some town halls throughout the year. Would it be a full time job for any level? No. So I do have, like I said, a full time job with a local company, management and doing management and marketing. But I would be putting 100% effort into this job as well as council because, like I said, Medicine Hat is where I love to live, and I want to see it grow and continue to grow, succeed and be prosperous. What have you learned in the campaign from some of the other candidates? Just a lot of different viewpoints and even things that I've kind of looked at one way and they say it a different way. It makes your eyes open and see, it just gives that different viewpoint and, perspective that maybe I just looked at it wrong. So you're the type of individual who is open to other ideas. You're not just make up your mind and it's like concrete. It's permanently fixed. Yeah. No, I'm open, to listening and, seceding from that because I may come up with an idea, but someone could tweak it even just a little bit, and it could turn into something even bigger. Right? Or they would be like, no, what if we did this part instead of that part? Right. And it could turn into anything. So, I don't just say this is the way it is, and that's the only way I'm going to vote in favor of it. No. So you'd be a collaborator, a consensus builder. And ask the tough questions on certain projects that are needed. What would be a tough question in your mind. Like I said, it's a lot of these groups are coming in and asking for money, and the tough questions aren't being asked a lot at the time of did you see this coming? What is the return on investment for the city? How is it going to benefit the city and the citizens and Medicine Hat right. And have you started saving for it? What is the end of life goal or expectancy for the project and the maintenance, plan for it so that you're continuing it and not just in one year. So go ahead and say, oh no, I need $1 million to fix this. That's the the part of it is that when you build something, you also have to look at the operating cost. Would you be, in favor of partnerships with, private industry? Possibly, if it was a benefit to Medicine Hat? Yes. Okay. I have said this to several of the candidates, and I'm going to ask you the same question on October the 20th. I have a very valuable piece of currency. I only have eight votes. It's 39 people that want one of my eight votes. Why should I spend my vote on Randall Lobel? I feel I bring a youthful approach, I have hands on experience and, leading by example, collaborating. Listening. And if you want someone who's going to listen and be your voice for Medicine Hat, that is me. I, I've seen frustration from the citizens, and it's not great. And, I just really want to help Medicine Hat grow and be that voice for the citizens. Well, Ren Lobo, thank you for stepping forward and, putting your ideas out there and not just sitting back and letting somebody else do it. Thank you. And, we'll, see how you. I'll come on the 20th of October. Sounds good. Thank you very much, Brian. You're welcome.