Despite recent talk about the future makeup of Jasper Town Council, Mayor Richard Ireland says that right now, he has no plans to leave his post and that he is happy serving as mayor.

“I’ll give my answer now which is the answer I always give when people ask — I will make a decision sometime over the summer,” said Mayor Ireland about his prospects for remaining in Jasper’s top government post for the October 2010 election and beyond. “There are a number of personal factors which I will be considering.”

At the March 16 general Jasper Town Council meeting, councillors voted to set up a democracy committee. It will advise council on whether or not to adopt a system where the mayor is appointed by council, instead of elected by Jasper residents.

Part of the reason for the committee was the worry should Mayor Ireland step down in the future, there would be a leadership void at the top seat. Some councillors worried that in the rush to fill that void, the quality of Jasper council might suffer.

“This is something that [Councillor Gloria Kongsrud] and I have been discussing for some time now,” said Mayor Ireland. “The [Municipal Governance Act] says that if you run for the mayor’s seat, you can’t run for council. That’s the law. So we want to make sure that council was not being neglected.”

Mayor Ireland was essentially elected by acclimation in each of the last two Jasper elections, but with no clear favourite to follow in his footsteps, which creates the potential for a much more competitive future election, the question has to be asked: what are the Mayor’s plans for 2010 and beyond?

“I will have to think about where I want to go with my life,” said Mayor Ireland.

Mayor Ireland, 55, who is also a partner at Rodger and Ireland Barristers and Solicitors in Jasper, said that he was happy with his job as mayor, which he has held since 2002, the year Jasperites were first allowed to elect their local government. He was instrumental in creating a proper municipal structure in Jasper.

“It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort out of my life. There really is a lot of work that goes into serving the community, but it’s also incredibly rewarding,” said the mayor.

The mayor said that he has no plans to leave Jasper any time soon and that overall, he’s just happy to be here, the place he was born and raised.

“This is the only place that I want to be,” said the mayor. “It’s where I was raised and it’s just where I wanna be.”

The Jasper Town Council election will be held on the third Monday of this upcoming October.