Yellowknife's Rebecca Alty 1st to announce bid for mayor's seat

The first candidate for Yellowknife mayor has entered the race, nearly four months before the official date to register.

Rebecca Alty says she'll be signing up as a mayoral candidate once the official registration period opens at the end of August. In the meantime, she says she'll be talking to people and hearing their ideas as she prepares a detailed platform.

"With the city [government] it's waste removal, it's roads, people are really passionate about these issues," she said. "Being able to govern and shape a city I'm passionate about is a great opportunity."    

She enters the race as Yellowknife's city council and administration are involved in an inquiry about alleged improper workplace conduct and harassment in 2014 by Doug Gillard, the municipal enforcement manager. Also, in the past month, two senior managers have announced they will be leaving the city administration.   

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"[The inquiry] will be seeing whether processes were followed, if there's current gaps that still exist and working to solve those," Alty said.

As to the recent staff turnover, the only city employee that reports directly to city council is the senior administrative officer, Sheila Bassi-Kellett, Alty said.

As mayor, Alty would "make sure [Bassi-Kellett] has adequate resources to implement the direction council is providing."

Alty, a two-term councillor, said that overall she doesn't plan on calling for sweeping changes at city hall.

"I don't think we need to turn the ship completely 180 [degrees], but for me, what I'm bringing to the table is that I'm very results oriented," she said.

"I like to have action plans, goals and objectives and I want to make sure we're tracking on that."  

Nominations for the city elections open on Aug. 31 and close Sept. 17.