Municipal election brought new faces to council

Dec 29, 2017 | 11:00 AM

2017 brought some changes to city council after October’s Municipal Election.

Chris Thiessen, Kevin O’Toole, and Jackie Clayton returned to their seats in city chambers, and Mayor Bill Given was also re-elected to another term.

He anticipated that one of the first hurdles would be showing new councillors the ropes.

“That’s not a deficit, that’s a strength,” said Given after the election.

“It means we will have to be more intentional about our councillor orientation, and ensuring council gets all the information they need to make good decisions.”

Wade Pilat, Eunice Friessen, Dylan Bressey, Yadvinder Singh Minhas and Clyde Blackburn are the fresh faces to council.

They got started working early in their term with talks about the Eastlink Centre, the November budget approval, and a new task force for the opioid crisis in Grande Prairie.

With 21 per cent of eligible voters exercising their right, Mayor Given received 68 per cent of the tally in the mayoral race.

“Over the last number of years we’ve really worked to engage residents in decision-making,” he said.

The council is now on holidays and will be back to meetings on January.

There were few changes to the County of Grande Prairie council in 2017, following the Municipal Election.

In the County, Karen Rosvold and Harold Bulford were named to the council by acclamation.

Daryl Beeston, Leanne Beaupre, Ross Sutherland, Bob Marshall, Peter Harris, and Corey Beck were re-elected.

Brock Smith didn’t run again and Linda Waddy was elected in his place. Reeve Beaupre was elected in Division 3.

“Other than the one seat left vacant, we have the same council. We have a cohesive group that works well,” said Beaupre after the election.

They will also reconvene in January.

With files from Justine Kelsie

by Jordan Parker