(Courtesy: Yudelka Leclere)

This week, KUCB is profiling candidates running in the Oct. 7 municipal election. This profile focuses on Yudelka Leclere, who’s running against incumbent Dennis Robinson for Seat D on City Council.

Yudelka Leclere knows that community turnout tends to be low at city council meetings. And that’s part of why she’s running for a council seat – she sees herself as a community member stepping up to be a bigger part of the process.

"I don’t see a whole lot of us community members attending, speaking yea or nay," Leclere says. "Maybe it’s time for me to take it up a little higher and be that advocate."

It’s not the first time Leclere’s tried to leave a mark on town since she moved here 14 years ago. She helped set up the entire GCI network in the Aleutians as the company’s regional manager – which she says prepares her for complicated council tasks, like city budgeting.

But she’s had another focus as a resident, and that’s volunteering. The Department of Parks, Culture and Recreation gave her its Community Star award this year for her work with Teens for Health, a scholarship program started by her recently graduated daughter Cynthia.

PCR director D. Tyrell McGirt also worked with Leclere on Iliuliuk Family & Health Services' board of directors. He says she’s well connected and always willing to help.

"I think she’s just an active voice," McGirt says. "You have a lot of people who say they want to get involved and want to do things. She actually does it."

He also notes that she and her opponent, Dennis Robinson, play an important role in the council election:

"I think they speak for a larger population, which is the people of color here on the island," he says. "It’s kind of tough, at the same time, to see two people of color going against each other, but I also like that they have a voice."

Leclere is the first challenger Robinson’s faced as an incumbent councilor. And she already knows what she’ll prioritize if she wins: reducing the cost of living in Unalaska, by working to expand housing opportunities and cut energy costs.

She didn’t think the city should become a landlord. Instead, she wants council to focus on facilitating new developments.

"Make it easier for people to develop lands that they have, or for people [that] have land, be willing to sell it to people that are willing to develop those lands so we can have affordable housing," she says.

It all comes down to what Leclere feels the community is asking for. She doesn’t have big concerns about current city policies, or how council works -- but she wants to be a part of the process.

In fact, she says she’s been interested in running for council for about five years. But this is the first election where she’s been eligible. She became a U.S. citizen in 2013.

"It was time for me stop contemplating it and start moving forward," she says. "So the minute I became a citizen is when my family knew that, okay, this is an interest. This is a reality. And that’s why this year I can say, yes! I have everything docked, I’m a U.S. citizen, I’ve been here 14 years and I’m ready."

For Leclere, it’s the next adventure in a long track record of community involvement.

Yudelka Leclere is running for City Council Seat D. She’ll face off against her opponent, Dennis Robinson, and answer your questions live on KUCB or Channel 8 Thursday at 7 p.m. during our Candidates Forum.