Staff reporter
What began with seven candidates throwing their hats into the ring in seeking a vacant seat on the Rimbey town council ended up being a two-horse race with Steve Schrader winning by a nose.
Schrader garnered 153 votes, 14 more than second place finisher Joe Anglin with 139.
“I wasn’t quite sure where I sat. Some of the guys were out pounding the pavement for me and I tired to go the extra mile with posters and such,” the new councilor said. “In talking to people, I was getting a good response so I was quite hopeful, but there were 14 votes difference between Joe (Anglin) and myself, so it was fairly close. I was quite happy to win of course and am looking forward to working with the rest of council and seeing where I fit in. I’m quite excited actually.”
Following Anglin in the race were candidates Jack Webb with 46 votes, Jim Moore with 44, Darren Jensen with 39, Allan William Tarleton with 21 and Mark Cartier who garnered 14 votes.
“I kind of thought it was going to be close between Joe and myself but I didn’t know it would be this close. I’ve been here for over 50 years so I was fairly confident, but not over confident,” Schrader added. “I know a lot of people here but there are a lot of new people in town too and Joe definitely has a following, so I just wasn’t sure and maybe even a little apprehensive.”
If there are no challenges or objections to the election, Schrader said he expected to be sworn into office on Friday, Aug. 28 and from there, he said he’ll be taking a wait-and-see approach to his new position.
“I think we’ll be taking our time here and get summer out of the way, see where I fit in and find out what’s required of me,” he said. “I want to find out what’s going on and issues behind closed doors that council is working on. Things can’t happen overnight but I definitely want to get some things done. I’m really looking forward to getting down to it and what goes on there in terms of the process and everything else.”
As for the election itself, Town of Rimbey chief administrative officer Russ Wardrope said it was on par with similar by-elections in the past.
“This one had a voter turnout of about 30 per cent, which is inline with past similar elections in Rimbey. Given that it was only for one council position, that may have been why there wasn’t a major turnout,” he said. “We anticipate that there are approximately 1,600 eligible voters. I say approximately because that is not an actual count. We don’t have a voter list so we establish it based on age profiles.”
In all, Wardrope said 457 ballots were cast.
“It was a good election with a strong field of seven candidates and it was welcoming to see a number of people interested in municipal politics to get out and vote as well as letting their names stand for the position,” he added.