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NOVEMBER 17, 2014
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Vol. 63, Issue 221
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Cranbrook wipes the slate clean Not a single incumbent returned; December 8 Council meeting will feature new mayor, new councillors BARRY COULTER, TRE VOR CR AWLEY AND ARNE PETRYSHEN
ARNE PETRYSHEN PHOTO
Wesley Graham, Tom Shypitka and Isaac Hockley celebrated being elected to council on Saturday night at the Eagle’s Hall.
Kimberley elects new mayor C A R O LYN G R A N T Daily Bulletin
A jubilant Don McCormick accepted congratulations from supporters at the Kimberley Elks Club Saturday night as the news came in at just before 9 p.m. that he was the newly elected Mayor of Kimberley. Elected or re-elected to City Council (in order of votes) are Sandra Roberts, Kent Goodwin, Darryl Oakley, Albert Hoglund, Nigel Kitto and Bev Middlebrook. “It was a hard day,” McCormick said. “It was probably the most anxious day I have spent
in a long, long time. “It’s a relief. It’s very emotional. I feel really, really good for my team. They worked so hard.” McCormick says he felt he had support from across the community, not any particular groups. “I feel grateful.” McCormick says he believes the new Council will be a strong group. “We are going to have a great Council. I am really, really looking forward to working with them. There’s so much to
do, I feel like we need to start Monday morning.” Preliminary numbers are as follows: Don McCormick,1301; Ron McRae, 1142; Doug Johnson, 181 Councillors: Sandra Roberts, 1898; Kent Goodwin, 1853; Darryl Oakley, 1817; Albert Hoglund,1601; Nigel Kitto, 1492; and Bev Middlebrook,1447. Those six are elected. Darren Close had 1407 votes and Brent Bush, 1340. This was the first time the
City of Kimberley made use of automated voting machines and the count went quickly and without a hitch on Saturday evening. Instead of waiting until midnight for hand-counting as in previous years, results were tabulated before 9 p.m. Chief Election Officer and Corporate Officer for the City of Kimberley, Kelly Harms, said, “We are pleased to see that the community embraced automated voting.”
See KIMBERLEY, Page 3
In a dramatic evening of politics, Cranbrook elected an entirely new City Council, including the office of mayor. Preliminary results showed Candidate Lee Pratt defeated incumbent mayor Wayne Stetski, 3396 votes to 2192. John York received 144 votes in his third run at the mayor’s seat. The referendum question on the ballot — “Are you in favour of Council adopting the City of Cranbrook cease-fluoridation bylaw No. 3799, 2014, which authorizes stopping the addition of fluoride to the municipal water supply effective January 1, 2015?” — was defeated 2,794 to 2,473. Election night featured Cranbrook’s first use of automatic voting machines. Preliminary results were available two hours after the polls closed Saturday night. “I feel really good,” said Mayor Elect Lee Pratt, at a campaign party at the Heritage Inn. “One thing I really feel good about is the numbers that came out, the people who came out to vote and I liked this year that there were some younger councillors there. They got the younger vote out. I think that’s really good when you can get the youth involved, because that’s the future of our town and they’re starting to get involved now.” The results were stunning in several respects. Besides the mayor, the three incumbent candidates finished out of the running — Diana J. Scott, Sharon Cross and Gerry Warner, though Cross’s
Cranbrook Mayor Elect Lee Pratt
seventh place was a near run thing to Wesly Graham’s sixth spot, 1,984 votes to Cross’s 1,959. Cross had actually pulled ahead when the mail-in results were counted. The new Council is also notable for its relative youth. Tom Shypitka (3,191 votes), Ron Popoff (2,714), Isaac Hockley (2,289), Danielle Cardozo (2,219), Norma Blissett (2,194) and Wesly Graham (1,984) will take their seats at Cranbrook City Hall at the next Council meeting December 8, 2014. Mayor Lee Pratt will preside. “I think it looks good,” Pratt said of the Council. “There’s some good diversity on there, there’s some younger people and of course they’re going to have some good viewpoints. They want Cranbrook to progress and grow too, so they’re going to be along the lines of getting things on track here. “I think the diversity of it is good. There’s business representation, there’s arts and culture and it’s just a good diverse council and I think we can work well together.”
See VOTERS, Page 3