Wendell Martens looks to fill vacant seat in Hanover Ward 5

Kleefeld native Wendell Martens is looking to fill the seat in Ward 5 after current Coun. Darrin Warkentin announced he will not seek re-election.

Martens is a native Kleefelder and he and his wife chose to live in Kleefeld after they got married. He is a first-generation beef cattle farmer and beekeeper (he has about 600 hives) and has owned his business for 30 years. He was also a volunteer firefighter eventually retiring after 22 years with the rank of captain. He also sat on the Kleefeld Honey Festival committee.

He said now is the time to run for office as it’s the perfect opportunity to serve the community again in a different way.

“I think there’s a benefit to having that history with Kleefeld to be able to step in and know some of the needs of the community from before and to today and kind of grow it together,” he said.

Martens said he doesn’t have a platform that he is running on, rather he wants constituents to tell him what the problems are in Ward 5 and he will take it to council if he is elected. He said people have approached him about drainage and road concerns. He was asked about the colour of the water in Kleefeld and he said that has been a problem since he was a child.

“I’m surmising that a new system has to be ridiculously expensive…honestly, 35 years ago it was a problem, and today it’s still a problem. So, it’s guaranteed not an easy solution. It’s crossed my mind for sure, and do I want to look into it? Absolutely, I do. But I’m pretty darn sure it’s not a simple solution because we’ve grown the community a ton, and we still have the same problem.”

He said the attraction for people to move to Kleefeld is that it is “a cozy bedroom community” to Winnipeg with a comfortable community feel.

As a councillor, Martens’ goal is to be approachable and he said his leadership style is being fair and level headed.

While he doesn’t have a vision for the future of Kleefeld or Ward 5, Martens said he wants to focus on the now and how to improve people’s lives today.

“Those are all people who are paying taxes already. They’re the people keeping our municipality running. We can’t forget about them. You know, it’s good to bring in new people, but we can’t forget about our people that are already keeping our wheels turning,” he said.

Martens thinks people should vote for him because he’s approachable and has experience in the community.

“I have 30 plus years of running a business, so I should be able to bring a certain amount of those expertise to the table,” he added.