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Rimbey town councillors ready to begin term

New councillors look ahead
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As in all municipalities throughout the province, the people of Rimbey have spoken and the votes have been cast.

The Oct. 16 election is over, but for the newly appointed councillors the work has just begun as another four-year term gets underway.

Mayor Rick Pankiw, who was acclaimed, is looking forward to the next four years working with the new council.

“The election is what the democratic process is all about and this council is the people’s choice. I look forward to moving Rimbey forward in the next four years with the help of the new council.”

Pankiw expressed his thanks to former councillors Mathew Jaycox, Jack Webb and Brian Godlonton.

“I want to thank them for their tireless efforts in what we have done (together in the past) and wish them all the best in the future.”

Bill Coulthard took the lead at the polls with an unofficial count of 651 votes. He said he is very humbled by the amount of people who voted for him.

“I’m looking forward to serving the community and making it a safer place to live,” he said.

Coulthard, a retired RCMP officer from the Rimbey detachment, plans to immediately begin steps to initiate Citizens on Patrol group.

“There will be a meeting within the next two weeks,” he said. “We need to start watching out for each other,” he added. He noted that little interest has been shown in the past in initiating such a program, though council had tried twice to get it off the ground.

Lana Curle trailed Coulthard to receive the second highest number of votes at the polls with 433 ballots cast in her favour.

Curle, who had fallen down the stairs in her home and broken her leg during the weeks before the election noted she was not able to spend as much time on the campaign trail as she had hoped.

“It really clipped my wings.”

Obviously her inability to be completely mobile while on the campaign trail didn’t deter voters from casting a ballot in her favour.

“I am really thrilled with the outcome,” she said. “I think the new council is a well rounded group and we all come from diverse backgrounds with diverse passions. And it’s nice to have the balance of another woman on council.”

Gayle Rondeel, who received 394 votes, agreed.

“I’m really looking forward to being on council and I think it’s a very progressive group with a wide range of interests.”

Incumbent Paul Payson received 358 votes.

This will be the third term for the incumbent councillor. He was not available to comment last week, but had said in an earlier interview his time on council had been a learning curve and balancing the funding wants and needs of the town is an “interesting challenge.”

Also running for council was Brian Godlonton with 343 votes, Mathew Jaycox with 316, Jack Webb with 278, Bernie Bast with 74 and Chuck Hendricks with 57.

Just under 800 voters visited the polls to vote for town councillors in this year’s municipal election, which is less than 50 per cent of the eligible voters.

Pankiw said it is the lowest voter turnout in the last three elections, noting 971 voters turned out for the last election.

Monday’s election results are unofficial.

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