Sue McKortoff celebrates after being elected as the new mayor of Osoyoos by a landslide. With 1,285 votes, she was nearly 1,000 votes ahead of second-place finisher Ray Vandenberg. McKortoff, who served as a councillor on the last council, is the first female mayor of Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire file photo)
The election of the first female mayor in the long history of the Town of Osoyoos and election of three of four new councillors made headlines in November.
Sue McKortoff captured the mayor’s seat in a landslide victory during the Nov. 15 municipal election.
Joining McKortoff around council table would be incumbent C.J. Rhodes and three newcomers – Carol Youngberg, Jim King and Mike Campol.
It will also be the first time in the town’s history that there will be two women on council.
McKortoff received 1,285 votes to easily win the mayoralty race, finishing almost 1,000 votes ahead of former town councillor Ray Vandenberg, who received 290 votes.
Mayoral candidate Doug Pederson finished with only 54 votes.
Rhodes and Youngberg finished in a dead heat with 1,299 votes each to lead the seven candidates running for the four spots on council. Campol finished in third place with 1,073 votes, while King grabbed the fourth and final spot garnering 1,050 votes.
Former mayor and longtime town councillor John Slater, who was also the MLA for Boundary-Similkameen, finished a distant fifth with 626 votes.
Sy Murseli failed in his seventh attempt to win a seat on town council as he received 458 votes, while newcomer Jean Clarke, who is Vandenberg’s life partner, finished with 294 votes.
McKortoff said she was confident heading into the election and is happy local citizens voted overwhelmingly in favour of making her the town’s first female mayor.
“I was confident heading up to a point, but you really have no idea what’s going to happen on election day,” she said. “I talked to a lot of people on the street over the past several weeks and I felt I had good support heading into the election and I’m just glad that the people have chosen to have me as their next mayor.”
Having three newcomers to municipal politics on the new council is extremely exciting, said McKortoff.
“I’m really glad that C. J. was voted back in because he and I know about the process and how things work and then we have these three new councilors who are going to bring in some new energy and new ideas,” she said. “It’s going to be very exciting leading this new council and I can’t wait to get started.”
McKortoff, who worked as a teacher in Osoyoos for almost 35 years before retiring, said she thoroughly enjoyed her first term on town council and believes she has developed the leadership and listening skills to become a respected and well-liked mayor.
She follows in the footsteps of her great grandfather, Edward Frederick Clarke, who was the mayor of Toronto from 1889 to 1893.
Youngberg said it will be exciting to be part of a new council that features a new mayor and three new councillors.
“There’s a lot of new blood and there will be a lot of new ideas on how to move our community forward,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to being part of this new team.”
King, who fell only 59 votes short of earning a spot on council during the 2011 municipal election, said it is very rewarding to finally have earned a spot on Osoyoos town council.
“I’m very pleased and very excited … especially after coming up just short three years ago,” he said.
King agrees that his many years of community volunteerism paid off handsomely with the electorate.
“I met a lot of people during the campaign and many of them commented that they were impressed with my community involvement as a volunteer,” he said. “They noticed my commitment to this town and it definitely helped me get elected.”
Stu Wells, who will step down after spending the past six years as mayor, said he’s very impressed with McKortoff and the new team of councilors.
“These are all people who have shown their commitment to our town,” he said. “If there is any shortcoming, it’s that the new council might be a little green or inexperienced, but we were all green once and I’m sure they will become heavily involved in the process and learn what they have to learn in a very short period of time.
“This is a very impressive group of people and I think they will form a very good council.”
McKortoff and Rhodes are excellent communicators and will be able to assist Campol, Youngberg and King in learning everything they need to know to become effective councillors very quickly, he said.
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak was in the South Okanagan in November trying to bridge the gap between supporters and opponents of a national park.
Polak, ministerial staff and local MLA Linda Larson held three separate meetings with local First Nations, opponents and supporters of the proposed national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen grasslands.
“I continue to believe that there is some common ground to be found,” Polak said in an interview. “Unfortunately to date it’s been kind of eclipsed by a pretty positional debate as opposed to a discussion around the things we’d like to get done.”
Polak said her approach is to look at the objectives that people want to see incorporated into any future plan for the land in question and see what the right tool or tools are to achieve those objectives.
Currently, however, the tools she is willing to consider do not include a national park.
“At this stage, I have not been directed to take a different position,” she said. “Of course our position as government is that we don’t see a national park as a solution, so that position hasn’t changed.”
Polak said, however, that there are other tools that can be used to protect the land base.
“I think the more important conversation is what it is we are trying to achieve,” she said. “If a convincing argument is made that a national park is the way to achieve that, well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I think it’s too early at this stage.”
“I thought it was very positive that she was up here,” said outgoing Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells, who attended the meeting for park supporters.
Doreen Olson, co-ordinator of the SOS National Park Network, said park supporters told Polak that the land needs a higher level of protection than what could be offered by a provincial park.
“There is no protection,” she said of the present situation where a portion of the land is a BC Parks protected area. “They just can’t do it. That park would need at least 15 people to monitor what’s going on there. They just can’t do it from a provincial standpoint. They have one person now and they only have her for part time in the summer.”
In other news, the newly-elected town council announced that spending between $4 and $5 million to expand an airport that is rarely used makes no sense.
“We don’t think airport expansion is a high enough up the list of priorities and we don’t think the current airport is the best use of that land,” said new Mayor Sue McKortoff, following an announcement that town council was exploring a more practical use for an airport facility that now serves a limited number of recreational aircraft and a drag strip for local drag racing enthusiasts. “We think expanding the industrial base makes more sense.”
Council determined in early November the existing airport lands could be better used for industrial expansion and then met with members of the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) and Destination Osoyoos boards on November 17 and explained its conclusion.
All agreed council’s direction was in the best interests of the community.
“Very few aircraft use the existing airfield,” explained Mayor Stu Wells, adding that council had grappled over the last two years with a proposed $4.5-million expansion to make the facility a more viable operation.
“We’re confident visitors to Osoyoos arriving by pleasure aircraft can be accommodated by the Oliver facility,” said McKortoff. “Given the location of the property near Hwy. 3 and Hwy. 97, using the land for an industrial purpose makes so much more sense.”
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Osoyoos Times
Voters lined up to cast their ballots in the Osoyoos municipal elections, which also included a referendum on funding a new fire hall. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Firefighters battled a blaze that destroyed a house at 16427 87 Street in Osoyoos late in November. Residents of the house made it to safety and were kept warm by emergency personnel. The fire was believed to have started in the kitchen while a resident was cooking. (Lyonel Doherty file photo)
