Bill Neufeld has officially entered the race for Parksville city council this week, as he suggested he would seven months ago during the last round of debate over development on the beach.
Neufeld said he started to get involved in local politics after becoming disenchanted with the current mayor and council. He said he shares the feeling of many he has talked to in the city who don’t feel the current council has the best interests of residents at heart.
“I realized that I needed to be responsible for the change that I wanted to see,” he said, launching his candidacy.
The platform he is running on can be summed up by the acronym ‘WHEEL/S,’ he explained: water, health, environment, economics including taxation, and living/social conditions, with city governance as the hub.
He has never run for political office but said he has an extensive background in the public, private and educational sectors, including owning and operating two successful businesses, an insurance brokerage and a management consulting firm. He has post graduate degrees in business administration.
Last winter he was part of a group of residents who tried to spark public dialogue about the city buying waterfront property for parkland, specifically in reference to the proposed Watermark resort/residential development beside the controversial Beach Club.