Town of Bonnyville voters will not go to the polls on Oct. 18, while only Ward 4, 5, and 6 MD of Bonnyville residents will vote in the municipal election.
Six nominees for town councillor and Mayor Ernie Isley have been elected by acclamation as of Monday. “I'm not overly surprised,” said Isley. He said he would have considered stepping down for a worthy challenger, but in the absence of one he will return as mayor until 2013, at which point he will be ready to step down.
“Either there's a level of satisfaction with the current direction the town is going out there in the community or there's a lot of apathy,” he said.
He said he has a solid council and is looking forward to the coming term.
The new town council for the next three years includes: incumbents Rene Van Brabant, Gene Sobolewski, Lorna Storoschuk, Jim Cheverie, and Ray Prevost. Newcomer John Irwin will fill the vacant seat on council.
Reeve Ed Rondeau will retain the position of reeve of the MD of Bonnyville for another three years, along with councillors Don Sinclair (Ward 1), David Fox (Ward 2), and Mike Krywiak (Ward 3).
“I'm very pleased that the people showed faith in the work that we've been doing for the last three years. I definitely want to say thank-you to everybody in the MD,” said Rondeau.
Nomination results are unofficial until noon today.
In Ward 4, incumbent Barry Kalinski will run against Marcy MacEachern. Incumbent Andy Wakaruk will run against James Sevenson and Glen Johnson in Ward 5. Paul Gullackson, Bob Engleder, and Fred Bamber will run against incumbent Delano Tolley in Ward 6.
The City of Cold Lake will see more names on the ballot this fall than the Town and MD combined. Fourteen names are on the unofficial list of candidates for council available at press time.
Incumbents Bob Buckle, Duane Lay, Kelvin Plain, and Hubert Rodden are seeking re-election. Jeff Bentley, Anita Berwick-Miller, Julia Cornester, Chris N. Hiebert, Vicky Lefebvre, Colleen McEntee, Darrell MacDonald, Ajaz Quraishi, Keith Rieder, and Chris Vining will also seek to win a seat on council.
Councillor Debra Pelechosky and incumbent Craig Copeland will run for mayor.
