LAC LA BICHE - Incumbent Mayor Omer Moghrabi and current municipal councillor George L'Heureux are now being joined by Plamondon-based area businessman Paul Reutov and 20-year veteran of the region's school board system Arlene Hrynyk in the race for mayor in Lac La Biche County.
Hrynyk and Reutov's nomination papers were added to the mayoral race just a day apart last week. With Reutov filing on Wednesday and Hrynyk on Thursday.
Hrynyk says her decision to run is based on a desire to continue her civic duty — one that has earned her experience doing what she loves doing best: "Serving others is at the core of my being," she told LakelandToday.ca.
A one-time probation officer, Hrynyk joined the Northern Lights public school board of trustees in the 2001 municipal election. Hrynyk has been the board's selected chairperson for almost all of the last decade and a half. She's also been the provincial president of the public school boards association and has served as director of several other provincial school-associated organizations. Hrynyk announced she would not be seeking re-election to the school board at the Northern Lights Public Schools board meeting last Wednesday.
Reutov officially entered his nomination papers on Wednesday. A local businessman with ties to the regional food and beverage industry, local hotel services, building fabrication, retail, and his own craft brewery, Reutov is making his first appearance on a municipal election list.
Reutov's Bold Developments business is also the major sponsor name behind Lac La Biche County's Bold Center recreation complex.
L'Heureux officially announced his intentions to run a few weeks ago, and Moghrabi had his papers signed more than a month ago.
Moghrabi, a local businessman and community sports enthusiast, is seeking his second full term as mayor, already serving one full, four-year term after his election in the 2017 municipal election and a partial term after winning a by-election for mayor in 2014 following the resignation of previous mayor Aurel Langevin after serving just six months in the seat. L'Heureux, an active farmer and rancher and member of several agricultural boars across the country, is the current councillor for the Ward 2 area in the municipality's south-western region. He was first elected to a municipal seat int the 2017 municipal election.
Municipal elections across the province will be held on Monday, Oct. 18. New provisions in the Election Act allowed candidates to announce their intentions as early as Jan. 1 of this year; several sitting candidates had announced their intentions to run at that time.
The current names on the nomination list are:
(incumbent council members noted with *)
Mayor: *Omer Moghrabi, *George L'Heureux, Arlene Hyrnyk, Paul Reutov
Ward 1: *Darlene Beniuk, Wanda Austin, Ab Beisel, Lee Hillary, Alvin Kumpula, J. Paul McLeod
Ward 2: Jodi Brownlie, George Buchanan, Kevin Pare, Liz Shaffer
Ward 3: *Colette Borgun
Ward 4: *Jason Stedman, Brad Boychuk, Lloyd Prefontaine
Ward 5: *Charlyn Moore, Terry Colosimo
Ward 6: *Sterling Johnson
Ward 7: *Colin Cote, *Lorin Tkachuk, Dan Anderson, John Mondal
Nomination deadline Sept. 20
Candidates for all nine positions (Ward 7 elects two candidates and the vote for Mayor is separate) on the Lac La Biche County council have until Monday, September 20 at noon to file their nomination papers with the municipality.
LakelandToday will have interviews and comments with mayoral candidates in the coming days.
