Cecil Villard 3rd candidate running for Charlottetown mayor

Former city councillor Cecil Villardis again running for a spot with thecity but this timehe wants to be in the mayor's chair.

Villard served on council for 11 yearsand was a senior bureaucrat with Health PEI. Drawing on his previous experience as acity councillor and with the health-care system, he figured it was an apt time to return to municipal politics.

"When I was elected to council for the first time I thought, after I was in there for a whilethat I'd run for mayor," he said.

• Al Douglas is running for mayor of Charlottetown in 2018
• Jamie Larkin enters race for Charlottetown mayor

"The time seems to be right, right now."

Now that he's retiredVillard said he has the time to take the role as the city's mayor and that he'd bea proper fit for the job as he'd spent most of his career in senior leadership roles with Health PEI.

"I'm comfortable managing relationshipswhich, inthe role of mayor, is basically what you're doing you're managing the relationships of 10 councillors and, through that process, trying to move an agenda forward."

'Tremendous opportunities here'

One thing Villardsaid he'dlike to seeis the city make greater use of data and information technology to make decisions.

• Clifford Lee on rewards, challenges as Charlottetown's mayor and some advice for his successor

"If we did that you'd have the opportunity to use the data that you can generate through IT for infrastructure planning, for measuring the quality of life in the city, for economic development it's a multi-use purpose tool."

"There's tremendous opportunities here in this great city and I think we need to embrace technology and use it to make better decisions that will benefit our citizens."

Villardjoins Al Douglas and Jamie Larkinvying for the position.

The province's municipal elections take place on Nov. 5.

More P.E.I. News: