The Town of Bentley held their election forum last night at their Community Hall to a crowd of about 80 enthusiastic citizens.

The big issues of the night were familiar ones, with citizens asking about how to lower tax rates, ways to attract more business to town, and better ways to deal with what seems to be the all too familiar narrative about increasing crime rates.

Lynda Haarstad Petten has spent the last four years as Mayor of Bentley, and hopes to have another term.

She says these days’ people are more aware of crimes happening around them, and citizens need to look out for one another in smaller rural communities.

“Crime is happening in every single municipality, and now-a-days because of social media, you are just hearing more and more about it. I really believe that we need Citizens on Patrol or something like that within the community, and like I said, it’s up to the citizens.”

Her opponent Greg Rathjen also echoed her sentiments about Citizens on Patrol, but both reminded citizens that it's up to them to keep those groups alive, as a C.O.P. group did exist in Bentley years ago only to be disbanded due to a lack of volunteers. Both candidates said council would be happy to facilitate the initial meetings for C.O.P., but it’s up to the citizens to carry it on from there.

6 others are seeking council seats, 4 of them newcomers, Lloyd Carefoot, Richard Garries, Neil Maki, and Doug Talsma. Current councillors Basil Howard and Cora Knutson are seeking re-election.

Bentley residents also heard from two people running for Wolf Creek Board of Trustee, Newcomer and former teacher Gwen Olson, against current trustee Pam Hansen. Both candidates stressed the importance of carefully deciding on a school board trustee, as they spend around $90 million dollars of tax payers’ money on school board decisions.

There was also a lively debate about the smell coming from the local hog barns, which has been an issue in Bentley for years, with improvements made in the last few years, thanks to unofficial arrangements made between farm owners and the Town. However, not all audience members were satisfied with the answers they received.

Carol Bayntun is a newer resident to Bentley, and she is not happy with the current council, and hopes that the new council will have their vision set on future opportunities for the town.

“I found out who’s close minded to change, and is sort of stuck in the mud, and we have people who are stuck in the mud, including our mayor. Everybody is busy defending what they’ve done in the past, and I know that happens to people, I just need them to look outside of the box.”

Albertans go to the polls on October 16th.