On Nov. 19, Dave Hall will seek a second term at the council table in 91原创 City, he announced Monday.

First elected in 2008, Hall, a former 91原创 school trustee, described his inaugural term on council as "rewarding, with glimpses of incremental change."

Among those changes, Hall counts the inclusion of a family change room and meeting facility at Al Anderson pool and the opening of a youth bike track at Penzer Park.

As well, he noted, some cost containment amendments were adopted to reduce taxes and a minor adjustment to the resident-business tax ratio provided some relief to residential taxpayers during the past three years.

Some progress was also made in terms of 鈥渙pen government,鈥� he added, with neighbourhood consultations on the small lot subdivision consideration, held in neighbourhoods south of the Nicomekl floodplain.

However, Hall has remained frustrated by what he sees as "a mayor and council less willing to consider innovative approaches to finance and new ways of doing business."

In a debt-free era, distribution of casino revenues must be revised to reaffirm a commitment to the importance of community social support and responsibility, he said.

He believes compounding municipal taxes must be curtailed and that generated surpluses must be returned as tax relief. At the same time, he said, expenses at the local and regional level must be restrained to, as a maximum, reflect the rate of inflation.

Hall has been a resident of 91原创 City since 1982. The now retired teacher first moved to 91原创 City with his wife Ellen, to be closer to neighbouring Surrey schools, where he taught for 34 years.

Over the next three years, he believes council must send a clear message to TransLink and the Council of Mayors that further demands for increased municipal property taxes for operating expenses are unacceptable, and that service levels south of the Fraser must be improved.

Citizens need to be involved at an earlier stage of genuine consultation 鈥�  both in terms of a master transportation plan and a revised official community plan 鈥� he said.

The City needs to invest in its future with a solid capital commitment to the Timms Community Centre renovation and the acquisition of greenspace north of the Nicomekl, he added.

鈥淧rojects seem to be driven as much by provincial/federal grant opportunities as locally determined priority or need 鈥� from Spirit Squares to cosmetic medians to overpasses," said Hall.

"Sometimes championing local causes demands more political independence and initiative than others may be able to offer."