-Three new members on Osoyoos town council-
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 19,2008-
By Karen KnelsenrnOsoyoos Times
Osoyoos Town Council has a new look after Saturday's municipal election, with a new mayor and three new councillors.
After one three-year term as a councillor, Stu Wells defeated Eike Scheffler and Manuel Gosselin in a three-way contest for the mayor's chair.
Wells garnered 1,046 votes compared to 577 for Scheffler and 126 for Gosselin.
In the race for the four councillor seats, three newcomers topped the polls “ with Michael Ryan getting 994 votes, Margaret Chadsey with 953, and C.J. Rhodes with 896.
Incumbent councillor Ted Cronmiller rounds out the new Council, recieved 829 votes for a fourth-place finish.
In rural Osoyoos, incumbent Regional District Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS) Area A Director Mark Pendergraft was returned with 345 votes, beating challenger Sherry Linn, who received 140 votes.
Following the election, Mayor-elect Wells has hit the ground running, already making plans for his new Council.
Although they won't be sworn in until Dec. 1, by the day after the election he had already called a Monday afternoon meeting for the Council-elect.
Wells said Sunday he hopes his new team will take definite action early in the term.
He is giving his new councillors 100 days to get something done, asking each of them to submit a pet project or plan in a 100-day file.
We're going to do everything in our power to do those five items, he says. I certainly have an agenda but I'd like to see accomplishments.
The self-described do-er says he sought the switch from Council to mayoral seat because he sometimes felt frustrated that things weren't getting accomplished.
But will his position as mayor be any different? I don't have that answer yet. Ask us at the 100-day mark, he says.
Something else he knows he wants to tackle in the new term is the completion of the northwest sewer project.
With the economic collapse all around us, this is going to take further intensive levels of dialogue with both levels of government, he said.
It's just crucial that it happens. For many, many reasons this cannot be put onto the back burner and become a side issue.
There might have been some confusion as to the effects of the postponement of the Willow Beach project on the sewer project, but Wells said he wants to clarify.
This has little to do with Willow Beach and everything to do with Osoyoos Lake, he said.
Wells knows from his experience as a councillor that the mayor's chair doesn't hold the same heft in small towns in Canada as it does in some big cities in the United States.
It's the day-to-day, he said. It's being the spokesperson for the Town. That's the strength of the mayor. When it gets to council, the mayor is only one of five votes, and can't make any motions.
Wells said he feels confident about his new group of Council members, and he looks forward to having a full staff to fill the Town offices this term.
The corporate offices of the Town are at full strength, which the existing Council never had the pleasure of, he said. To have full staff is just a luxury.
The Town has added several staff members to its payroll in the last couple of months, notably Barry Romanko, the new chief administrative officer, and Phil Armstrong, planning technician.
The full staff and new council aren't the only people Wells thinks will make his job easier.
I certainly was appreciative of the support I received throughout the campaign, he said.
The new mayor admits he had moments of doubt about his impending election.
I found the six-week period a very unsettling time, he said. My emotions went from top to bottom about every five minutes of every waking hour.
But he said he got lots of positive feedback in the last three days of his campaign. I had a really comfortable feeling on Saturday.
Trailing behind the elected Osoyoos councillors were Diane Zorn, with 613 votes, Bob Knight, with 596 votes, Christopher Scheuren, with 512 votes, Sy Murseli, with 457 votes, Chris Boehm, with 299 votes, and Jim Shaw, with 214 votes.
RDOS Rural Area A Director Mark Pendergraft's win gives him his second term on the RDOS Board.
Also on the Rural Area A ballot this term was a referendum for continued services from the Solid Waste Collection and Drop-off service in the rural area. The question was posed individually to the Kilpoola area, the Anarchist Mountain area, and the valley bottom area.
The majority of the votes were for the continued services in all three areas. Kilpoola residents voted 35 to 5 in favour, Anarchist Mountain residents voted 59 to 19 in favour, and valley bottom residents voted 300 to 68 in favour of the continued services.
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