BONNYVILLE – The MD of Bonnyville appointed Coun. Darcy Skarsen as the new deputy reeve, and he took his oath at the Nov. 12 council meeting.
“I, Darcy Skarsen, do swear that I will diligently, faithfully, and to the best of my abilities, execute according to law the office of deputy reeve for the Municipal District of Bonnyville number 87, so help me God,” recited Skarsen.
The position is renewed annually, so Skarsen will now act as deputy reeve until the municipal election at the end of October.
Skarsen readily accepted the opportunity and shared his excitement about taking on the new role.
“I’m honoured to be the deputy reeve. It’s my first time as deputy reeve in my seven years on council . . . I’m looking forward to it.”
Skarsen says for the most part it is business as usual for him, but the position does come with a couple enhanced roles.
“I’ll be attending some of the meetings with the reeve that councillors typically don’t go to, with ministers and such. I’ll be chairing the Committee of the Whole meetings which I’m looking forward to as well . . . one of the big highlights right off the bat was chairing budget deliberations,” said Skarsen.
The position was previously a six-month term, and Skarsen explained that council decided on a year-long term instead.
“What was happening was someone would come in October, and be the deputy reeve from November [until] April, so you got to go to the RMA’s, and you got to attend all these meetings and then May until October would be the second term and nothing happens. The meetings are cut short in the summer, and there is less Committee of the Whole meetings at that time, so we decided to go with the one-year terms.”