By Curtis Galbraith

Work on keeping Rycroft viable is underway says the Mayor

May 18, 2018 | 5:30 AM

The Mayor of Rycroft says she is “pretty excited” after the results of a dissolution vote Wednesday.
 
56.6 percent of those turned out voted in favour of Rycroft remaining a village while 43.4 percent wanted to see it dissolve into the MD of Spirit River.
 
Diahann Potrebenko says the vote means 125 people want to keep their autonomy.
 
“They want to stay a village and they’ve chosen us as their elected officials to determine their levels of service for our community and I’m really proud  that we have a positive Council and staff and we’re going to be working very hard to make Rycroft a better place for our residents and our businesses.”
 
A total of 221 people cast ballots, with 96 voting for dissolution.
 
Potrebenko thinks frustration and concerns from the past led to more than 43 percent of those who voted wanting to dissolve the community.
 
“I’m hoping that they can see that we’ll continue to work hard for them and hopefully, they’ll be happy that we are moving in the right direction and that we can rebuild the faith that they have lost.”
 
She adds they are working on 64 recommendations from a report compiled by the province’s Municipal Affairs department.
 
“There are a lot of recommendations, but our big one was governance, training, just better decisions with the money.”
 
People in Berwyn also took part in a dissolution vote Tuesday, but more than 80 percent of the people who voted in that community opted to remain a village.