This Saturday many residents of Osoyoos will go to the polls to elect a new mayor and town council.

The Osoyoos Times won’t be taking an editorial position on the individual candidates other than urging local residents to get out to vote if they haven’t already done so in advance.

In my two years as a reporter in Osoyoos, however, I’ve had a chance to meet all the candidates and to gain some insights into the kind of job they would do for the community.

What follows are a few of my own personal impressions.

First, I’m happy to say that most of the candidates would do a good job. I do, however, have concerns about a couple.

It is not my place to “out” the private lives of candidates, but if I think their personal problems impair their ability to serve effectively on council, I will say so.

I see the candidates for mayor and councillor falling into three rough groups that I will call the Incumbents, the Grumpies and the Community Movers.

There’s also a candidate who falls into a group of his own.

There are only two incumbents – mayoral candidate Sue McKortoff, who served as a councillor on the current council, and councillor C.J. Rhodes.

People sometimes underestimate the importance of having some continuity between councils. There needs to be someone there who knows the history of matters that come before council and why certain decisions were made.

Rhodes is not the most chatty guy, but he strikes me as level headed. He has been a solid councillor and would do a good job if re-elected.

McKortoff is an incredibly energetic and smart woman who has proven over and over her commitment to Osoyoos and its many organizations. If she were running for the first time, I would group her with the Community Movers, but unlike them, she has recent council experience.

We would be very lucky to have her as mayor.

The Grumpies are unhappy with the status quo.

Their mood is best captured by mayoral candidate Ray Vandenberg’s slogan “Enough is Enough.”

Besides Vandenberg, the other Grumpies are his life partner Jean Clarke, who is running for a seat on council, fringe mayoral candidate Doug Pederson and repeat councillor candidate Sy Murseli.

Vandenberg, Clarke and Murseli have been leading the charge against a bylaw to borrow money for a new fire hall.

Pederson, and to a lesser degree Murseli, see conspiracy and corruption at town hall.

Over the years, I’ve certainly seen some bad town councils in other communities that deserved to be swept out, but Osoyoos isn’t one of them.

In my opinion this town had an exceptionally good council last term, so I don’t share the Grumpies’ world view.

I also disagree with the view of Vandenberg, Clarke and Murseli that the proposed fire hall is some kind of Taj Mahal.

It’s a wise investment in the town’s future and it’s needed.

The Community Movers are energetic people who involve themselves in local causes and organizations they see as helping the community.

They are Carol Youngberg, Jim King and Mike Campol. They are smart, capable and committed.

Campol has not been in Osoyoos as long as the others, but his work with Spirit of the Game and the Desert Live Music Fetival shows his energy and desire to promote Osoyoos.

Relatively speaking, he’s also younger than all the other candidates and is the only candidate with young children.

In a category of his own is John Slater, the former MLA, mayor and councillor.

I know him the least because after a scandal that led to him leaving provincial politics, he fell below the radar and I haven’t crossed paths with him until this election.

At the time of the scandal, which came in January 2013, just two months after I arrived in Osoyoos, I wrote in this same opinion column that with Slater leaving politics, no public interest would be served by digging deeper into the reasons for his resignation.

Even now that he’s getting back into politics at the municipal level, I am less concerned with what happened nearly two years ago than with other personal issues that could impair Slater’s ability to be an effective councillor.

Those are my impressions. I urge you to speak with your friends and to read the submissions from the candidates elsewhere in this paper.

Then go down to the Sonora Community Centre on Saturday with two pieces of identification and cast your vote.

Richard McGuire is a reporter/photographer with the Osoyoos Times.