The pre-election numbers in Three Hills are simple: one acclaimed mayor, three male and four female candidates, each determined to occupy four council seats on October 20.

Looks and sounds simple, but after the October 8 all-candidate meeting at the community center, hosted by the Three Hills and District Chamber of Commerce and attended by nearly 100, the voices and choices left more to the imagination than firm “Now I’m really sure who to vote for!”

The evening’s opening statements were much like opening statements in other small town forums. More crosswalks, dead trees removed, how about an off-leash dog park, business recruitment, more infrastructure in the south-end park, municipal debt, bylaw enforcement, shared rural transportation, council communication, and infrastructure deficit.

But snuggled in with platitudes, generalizations, and factual errors was evidence of well-thought ideas for a four-year term of service, accounts of lengthy town service as councillor or employee, and declarations of having lived in Three Hills for years or being born here. Some visions for the community of 3,212 were admirable, others may or may not have the financial muscle or citizen support to see a request for decision slide across the council table.

Various comments, various candidates: we need a bylaw officer . . . but we don’t want Three Hills to become a police state . . . we need a bylaw that says all new homes need laundry facilities . . . what’s a deficit . . . ours is an old town with lots of seniors . . . let’s buy our own paving equipment, get the town paved and then sell the equipment . . . this is the best place in the world to raise a family.