It's been 30 years since Betty Irwin and her husband came up to the Yukon for a holiday and decided to make it their home.

After three decades of watching the territory and capital city change, Irwin is ready to run for city council.

"Now is an ideal time,” she says.

Being "semi-retired” now for the third time, Irwin says it's a good time for her to pursue something she's been contemplating for years, but didn't have the time to commit to, serving on the city's municipal government.

Among those changes, Irwin has watched new public processes bring what she calls a "logical, well-planned manner (that) pays attention to the environment” to development in the growing community.

"I just want to be part of this,” she says.

Bringing with her background in both business, having partnered in three businesses in the city (most recently the Holodeck computer/Internet café) which was located downtown a few years ago, and non-profit groups, Irwin also has an interest in city finances.

She would like to look at how the city currently manages its money and how it could raise more funds outside of taxes to pay for the ongoing operations of the city and demands for services by the public.

While she says she doesn't have a lot of concrete ideas on how that can be done, she did note there may be some possibilities in hosting a summer street festival, among other initiatives.

"I'd sure like to explore some,” the 76-year-old says.

While this will be her first run at city politics, Irwin unsuccessfully ran in the 1989 territorial election under the NDP banner.

These days, she says she doesn't belong to any political parties and one of the things she likes about municipal politics is that Whitehorse is without either a ward or party system of governance.

The current system, she argued, allows council members to focus on the city as a whole rather than one particular interest.

"I think Whitehorse is small enough that council can represent all interests,” she says, noting that her opinion could change if the city's population ever reached 250,000 or more – more than 10 times its current size.

Throughout her campaign, Irwin has been making use of the Internet (www.betonbetty.com) to get her message out.