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107th Year - Week 47
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 www.interior-news.com
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SKATING JAMBOREE Club hosts first ever jamboree.
SPORTS/A8
BEAR NECESSITIES Thirty orphaned cubs need nourishment.
COMMUNITY/A18
Shiny Shinny The sun shines on a game of shinny above a frozen Seymour Lake near Smithers Sunday. Greg Brown photo
hot wheels Hazelton woman helps return stolen bike.
THREE RIVERS/B4
inside Letters A6 Sports A8 COMMUNITY A18 OUR TOWN A24 THREE RIVERS B1 classifieds B8
Smithers elects councillors, trustees By Chris Gareau Smithers/Interior News
Smithereens elected a mix of new and familiar faces to represent them on town council and the school board. After the retirement of three councillors, 1,281 voters chose from nine candidates for six seats. All three incumbents were returned to council for the next four-year term. Frank Wray, Phil Brienesse and Bill Goodacre will join newcomers Gladys Atrill, Greg Brown and Shelley Browne at the new council’s first meeting on Dec. 9. Atrill was the biggest votegetter, earning the confidence of 942 residents in her first campaign. “Of course it feels pretty good. I’m pretty amazed and I’m very appreciative for the support that
I received,” said Atrill, who plans on staying involved with Tourism Smithers. Atrill pointed to her contributions in tourism and volunteering as reasons why people supported her run. She added that her ability to see different sides of an issue also helped. Work on the official community plan (OCP) is something she and other councillors are looking forward to. “We need a lot of different things in town to make it healthy, and I think the OCP process is an opportunity for residents to contribute to that,” said Atrill. Greg Brown said his engagement at the door helped him connect and earn him the thirdhighest vote total. “If you give people the opportunity to think about things, they will be thoughtful. What I liked is first they had a
position like ‘Smithers is closed for business’, so I asked ‘how would you like to change it?’” said Brown. “That was the beginning of how I want to spend the next four years.” Brienesse said the turnover due to retirements helped incumbents, as did the last council’s availability with residents. He sees councillors new and old working well together. He said he plans to avoid the last council’s rocky start. “Just getting to know each other and our own personal styles so we can have a really productive council that gets along well and discusses things without getting personal and making sure that we focus on the issues,” said Brienesse. Wray said he was honoured to be re-elected, and hopes his experience will be helpful. “I think my role is to provide context and history for some of the
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decisions that we have made, and also help pass on the knowledge of the processes that we have to follow,” said Wray. Dawn Hanson is one of the new faces on the Bulkley Valley School District 54 board. She said her message of more communication resonated with voters. “I think we need to explore ways we can connect with people, and I think that comes from a broad conversation as a board to help gather ideas; I think it comes as a broad conversation with community members on how is the best way to communicate with them and share and be open; and I also think there are roles you can do individually as a trustee, having social media that you use... to share information that is public,” said Hanson. See ELECTION RESULTS on A4