Grand Forks Gazette, November 19, 2014

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2014

VOL 117 NO. 47

Konrad ready for challenge ahead

STARTING A NEW BUSINESS, NEED SPACE? LOOKING FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS?

CRAIG LINDSAY

Grand Forks Gazette

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Brian Thate 250-442-7370

www.brianthate.com LITTLE OAK REALTY

Thank You for your support

I am honoured to be elected to council and committed to work for the betterment of our great city

- Chris Hammett Authorized by: Chris Hammett, Financial Agent chammett@telus.net

Remembering those who served Staff Sgt. Jim Harrison salutes after laying a wreath for the RCMP at the Remembrance Day ceremony held Tuesday at the cenotaph in Grand Forks. More photos on page A11. Craig Lindsay photo

The people have spoken – Konrad in as mayor Grand Forks Gazette

A12 - A17 for details

They will definitely need to hand out name tags at the first meeting of the new Grand Forks City Council with a new mayor and four new councillors. Frank Konrad, who has never held a seat in politics before, beat incumbent Brian Taylor by a 53 vote margin, 503-450. Councillor Cher Wyers came a close third with 434 votes. Donna Semenoff picked up 144 votes, while Peter Demski had 31 votes. Returning to council were Michael Wirischagin, who led all candidates with 741 votes, and Neil Krog (592). Top vote getter among new councillors was Julia Butler, who had 702 votes. Christine Thompson, who was in council three years, had 676 votes. Also gaining spots were Chris Hammett (546) and Colleen Ross (539). Just finishing out of the six spots were Kathy

Will find you a property to purchase or rent. Ken Dodds REALTOR® Property Manager

250.442.2632

As the new mayor of Grand Forks, Frank Konrad plans to stick closely to his election platform of being transparent and that he will never betray the trust of the citizens. Konrad beat out incumbent Brian Taylor by a 503-450 margin for the mayor’s chair. Councillor Cher Wyers finished third with 434 votes. Konrad was pleased with the results and said it clearly signifies a desire for change from the voters. “To put it honestly, I was honoured and excited,” he told the Gazette on Monday. “I was really excited that the people made their choices and they send out a message and they chose me, and I’m honoured.” Konrad said the win showed a trust from the people for him and his campaign. “They wanted change, that’s the only way I can interpret it,” he said. “People wanted change and decided to go in my direction. People had trust in me to choose me as their new mayor.” Despite defeating a three-time incumbent (Taylor was mayor from 2011-14 as well two earlier stints), Konrad said he was not surprised. “I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “After having campaigned so hard going door to door, why would I be surprised? I got the message already ahead of time from the majority of citizens that I contacted. The writing was on the wall.” Konrad said his only fear heading into the regular election day on Nov. 15 was being dis-

• See KONRAD page A8

CRAIG LINDSAY

See pages

Moulin Rouge Page A18

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2 bedroom easy access 1 level living Insuite Laundry. Short walk to downtown. $145,000. MLS# 2214595

Korolek with 524 and Zak Eburne-Stoodley with 521. Not re-elected were incumbents Patrick O’Doherty (419) and Gary Smith (340). Also running but not elected were were Baun Mark (440), FRANK KONRAD Richard Fausten (422), Lorraine Dick (388), Teresa Taylor (387), Larry Podmoroff (371) and Monique Van Ewyk (215). The referendum question (are you in favour of a deer cull?) passed by a 895-589 margin. Elected to school board trustee for Grand Forks were incumbent Teresa Rezansoff and newcomer Katie Jepsen. David Reid has been selected as Area D trustee once again. Roly Russell, who filled in as Area D director for 22 months after Irene Perepolkin suffered a stroke, was elected as RDKB Area D representative with 478 votes. Bob Kendel, a Grand Forks

city councillor, came second with 173 votes, While Perepolkin came third with 72. The number of eligible voters who voted in Grand Forks was 62 per cent with 1,579 ballots cast out of 2,556 registered in the poll book. “However, the registered voter number does not include those electorates who registered during the advance polls and general voting day,” said Diane Heinrich, chief election officer. Civicinfo.bc lists Grand Forks as having 3,031 eligible voters marking the percentage of voters at 52 per cent. Those numbers are actually down from 2011 when 1,550 voters out of 2,675 eligible voters for a total of 58 per cent, according to Heinrich. In Area D, 723 people voted out of 2,380 eligible voters for a total of 30.39 per cent voter turnout. Theresa Lenardon, chief electoral officer for the RDKB, said those numbers are up from 2011 by 9.71 per cent. All results are unofficial at this time.

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