Steinbach city councillor Earl Funk has announced he will run for mayor in the October civic election. Funk has been on city council for the past eight years and explains what motivated him to pursue the role of mayor.

"I do love civic politics, I just love it. It's part of my life. But also, I do believe that we can work together and make Steinbach a great city. The city is great and Mayor Chris has done a great job of leading us for the past 12 years. But I just feel that we are going to have to renew our recreational facilities. But we need to keep them affordable, that's very very important."

Funk suggests he would do this by developing partnerships with neighbouring municipalities, businesses and the senior levels of government.

"Surrounding municipalities also want to build their multiplexes, maybe there's something we can do together to save costs."

Aside from recreational facilities, Funk outlines some of his other priorities.

"My vision for the city is to maintain the infrastructure renewal so that our infrastructure will last us a long time. That will help us keep Steinbach affordable. I want to continue to support responsible growth and look for growth and see whether there might be some ways we can go out and advertise and market Steinbach as a great place to do business because we have a lot of amenities. Geographically, we're in a great position."

Funk says he has been considering a run for mayor for years.

"Four years ago is when it first became evident. We put it on the backburner for many years but, in the last six to eight months, it's been heavily on my heart for me to run."

Funk notes he would expand the hours of the mayor's office and pledges openness and transparency.