With three years under her belt as mayor along with three years prior to that as a city councillor, Mayor Bev Buckway says she has the experience needed to lead the city into 2012.

Buckway is hoping to retain her mayoralty on Oct. 15.

To be effective in the city's top job, she says, it's important to have experience.

"You've got to feel your way in,” she says.

Buckway began her career in municipal politics as a councillor before running for mayor in 2006 against incumbent Ernie Bourassa, along with first-time candidates Ray Kitz and Bobby Barry.

The former barber won with 1,874 votes compared to 1,344 for Bourassa, 805 for Ray Kitz and 229 for Barry.

Three years later, Buckway says she has both the experience and enthusiasm for the work.

"I still have a passion for the job,” she says.

That job goes beyond the decisions and discussions council has at its Monday night meetings and the council and senior management meetings held regularly through the week.

Whitehorse is the only municipality in the territory to have a full-time mayor, and it is the only position on any council that is paid full-time.

For Buckway, that means representing the city at numerous public functions, ranging from the annual general meetings of groups to meeting military dignitaries who come to town to visit the cadet camp.

Having that role can create scheduling conflicts where there are simultaneous events the mayor could be at representing the city.

Buckway has made those situations easy on herself, though.

"I decided early on that the first invitation was the one I would accept,” she says, adding that the one exception to that rule is when there is a city meeting she has to attend.

Buckway's role as mayor has also seen her move into the role of president of the Association of Yukon Communities. That position has seen her move to a more national level on the northern forum at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The move to civic politics came after years of volunteering in the community on everything from a crisis line to the Rotary Club of Whitehorse.

Those experiences have helped her in her position as mayor, she says, noting she finds it easier to relate to those organizations when they make requests of the city.

"You have an understanding of what their mandate is,” she says, adding, however, that outside of zoning and some grants, the city can't offer much because it doesn't have a mandate to provide social services.

"We're very limited in what we can offer,” she says.

That often means Buckway ends up informing the organizations which staff person to speak to about what the city can offer.

And while council may not have a mandate for social issues, Buckway is using her role as mayor in an effort to raise the profile of the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition in its fight against homelessness.

In an effort to raise awareness of the homelessness issue this week, the coalition has been conducting a couch surfing event where members of the community have had to couch surf all week.

"That is something I can do,” Buckway says when asked why she decided to participate. As she pointed out, things can happen at any time that may leave people homeless.

Participants weren't allowed to find a place to stay in advance of the event, and have had to call on people that day to see if they can stay there. With that, Buckway had a list of people in her head she expected to call on during the week.

Looking at the issues facing the city, Buckway notes many have become more complex and aren't the same matters the city would have come across 20 years ago.

A long-term vision for the city and the issues it faces is now required, she says, pointing to the reclamation issues around quarrying as an example.

The council elected to serve the 2009-2012 term will be faced with a variety of issues.

Construction of the public safety building near the top of Two Mile Hill will wrap up in the next term. While that's expected to alleviate some of the spacing issues for staff (with bylaw set to move in there), Buckway is also anxious for planning to get underway on a new Municipal Services Building to replace the one on Fourth Avenue.

"We're out of room,” she says.

After hosting the 2007 Canada Winter Games in her first term, Buckway is also hoping to be part of the council which hosts the 2012 Arctic Winter Games.

"Now the planning process starts again,” she says.

Continuing to make the city accessible and celebrating Whitehorse's 60th anniversary are also on the list for the next term.

There's also the budget to contend with each year.

"It's always a challenge,” Buckway says, noting the many demands facing the city each year.

Buckway would like to see another review of the Municipal Act done with it, among other things, looking at ways to enable municipalities other ways to raise money.

Under current legislation, she pointed out, the city can't have a hotel tax, something many jurisdictions now charge as a way of raising more funds. She pointed out paying a hotel tax has now become the norm for travel.

Continuing work to forge relationships with other governments and continued growth in the city are also important to the mayor.

The city will also need to be ready for a pipeline if it comes on-stream – an issue Buckway acknowledges has been around for more than 30 years.

Still, she says, the city can prepare for the possibility by identifying the pipeline corridor in the city's Official Community Plan (with the latest version of the planning document set to be released later this fall).

With few declared candidates in the election, just a week before nominations closed, Buckway says she was hopeful more Whitehorse residents would put their names in to run.

"It's a fabulous opportunity,” she says of serving on council.

Buckway says she would rather be elected to the mayoralty than win by acclamation.

It's always good for people to have a choice, noting she wants to know she has the mandate of the public in taking the mayoralty again.

"It's a chance you take,” she says of seeking election.

Born in Whitehorse, the 55-year-old spent most of her childhood years in Beaver Creek before returning to Whitehorse for high school, where she became involved in sports and, later, volunteer activities.

Her sister, Pam, also ventured into politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a Liberal MLA and cabinet minister.