There will be one woman for sure on the ballot in this fall's municipal election in Lacombe.

Thalia Hibbs declared her intentions to seek a seat on City Council at a media event this morning at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.

Hibbs has spent the past 7 years serving on the Board of Trustees for St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools, representing Lacombe; she currently serves as Board Chair.

While she admits she hasn't always had her eye on municipal politics, she's passionate about building community and has received plenty of encouragement to put her name forward.

"I've actually had just a lot of people from the community say I like what you're doing on School Board, would you consider moving over and try and do that on City Council and I really had to think about that because I do really love being a School Board Trustee, I really love advocating for children. I feel like my community is asking me to do this, and I have the skill set so I'm putting it out there and am going to do it for them".

In terms of her platform, Hibbs says empowering residents and public engagement is a key area of focus.

"I really feel that we really need to have a lot more of a dynamic approach to engaging citizens. I feel that we kind of sort of have been doing the same thing year after year and you know because I have been in lots of different communities in my role right now, I've had exposure to how other communities do things, even how my own board does things. I'd really like to bring some of those practices to City Council and really have city residents claim back management of this city".

For the last several years Hibbs has been attending Lacombe City Council meetings and posting the agenda's and background information on community Facebook pages to help ignite discussion from residents.

Hibbs says her campaign will focus on four pillars: dollars and common sense, empowering residents, community standards and economic development.

With no women currently on City Council, when asked about adding a female perspective, Hibbs pointed to the strengths of diversity.

"I think that any Board or Council is only stronger by diversity, so whatever that looks like. The more diverse backgrounds we can get on City Council making these decisions for our community is going to be better because it better reflects the needs of the community".

With her husband and 3 children behind her, Hibbs aims to work with the people of Lacombe.

(Hibbs candidacy announcement June 12th at Lacombe Memorial Centre)