Along with Mayor Jim Garlick, the familiar faces returning to council are Doug Dirk and Bill Firman. Another councillor, formerly from the neighbouring jurisdiction of Vernon, is Pat Cochrane. Gyula Kiss is also a recognized name, as he was mayor for three years and councillor for six in Coldstream during the ‘90s. The other candidates who will make up council are lawyer Richard Enns and retired geologist Maria Besso.
Besso and Kiss are the two Coldstream Ratepayers Association members on council.
“There definitely will be some challenges,” said Cochrane of the new council. But, he adds: “I think we will work well together.”
Yet, other candidates say the new council members will work better than the last.
“I like the new council, I have more in common with them,” said Firman, who is confident they will be able to manage development better versus his prior feeling that development was running the community.
Firman also shares the delight of several of the new councillors to see Garlick voted in as mayor.
“I didn’t think there was anyone in the Coldstream who could beat him,” said Firman, a criminal lawyer who is entering his second term on council.
Firman says there is a great group of professionals on the new council. The fact that two of them are lawyers (himself and Enns), leads him to believe people must really like lawyers, despite what they say.
“I think secretly they do because they know they’re all going to need one sooner or later.”
Besso is also pleased to see the level of professionalism on the new council.
“I think it’s got quite a lot of experience on it. It’s a very strong council,” said Besso, who will be sitting down to her first term on council. “I think I can learn a lot from all those people.”
Besso was also pleased with the results of the mayoralty race, with Garlick beating Glen Taylor by more than 1,000 votes.
“It could’ve gone either way but it was very comforting that the decision was so decisive.”
Kiss is equally pleased with the election outcome, along with its popularity on his blog website.
His Coldstreamernews site had 830 hits Sunday, 350 of which were new hits. Kiss says the CRA news blog will be a link between council and the rest of the community.
Having worked with three different councils, Dirk has no reservations about starting a new term with a new group of people.
“It’s a new opportunity with some new faces.”
Dirk, who has the same council experience as Cochrane (12 years) lends this advice to the newbies.
“There’s lots to learn. You need to be a good listener and you need to not have your mind made up before you go into something.”
Mary Malerby, who was not voted back onto council, wishes the new mayor and councillors well.
While she is a great believer in democracy she is surprised by the election outcome.
“This whole set up was really something. They (CRA) ran their slate of these people. Then they ran all these extra people.”
The mayoralty outcome was also a shock to her.
“I didn’t think there’d be that much of a division.”
Enns could not be reached for comment by press deadline.
Most of the candidates agree that a priority is examining the situation with the Coldstream Fire Department.
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2 comments:
What's Malerby been smokin'? Mary, look at the individuals who let their names stand for this election and explain to me how they were a part of a conspiracy to let their names stand because some group told them to? Get real.
Hold up a mirror Maverick Mary.
Three years ago you were present at the Coldstream Ratepayers' meeting (Community Church) where the issue of running a slate, having exit polls etc were dismissed outright. The over-riding concern of those present was Coldstream Meadows and the failure of the majority of the existing council to uphold and protect the OCP.
I am truly glad there wasn't a Coldstream Ratepayers' slate:
imagine someone standing on the principles agreed to by their peers and then flip-flopping to enable the agenda of the very people they professed to oppose.
The entire slate would then be discredited by the voters.
The so-called "apathy" of the Coldstream voter that your colleague Glen Taylor pointed to in his assessment of his loss in the election is in large measure contributed to by the cynical acts of individuals who claim to represent the community then once in office do the predictable and disappoint those who trusted them with their vote.
The Ratepayers are not some "special interest" Machiavellian dark force whose machinations brought down wholesome folksy small-town civic leaders. They are your good neighbours Mary and they preferred representation, accountability and respect not self-interest.
The people who knew the issues got out and voted and they didn't choose the status quo Mary.
If they see that the spirit of their OCP if upheld they will vote for the same community leaders they TRUST again and encourage their neighbours to join them at the polls to do the same.
It's called the grass-roots Mary.
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