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Tuesday, November 18, 2014
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Aaron Stone is Ladysmith’s new mayor Lindsay Chung
THE CHRONICLE
The Town of ladysmith will have a new mayor for the first time in 21 years. And it’s Aaron Stone. Preliminary results from the Nov. 15 election reveal that Stone received 1,315 votes, ahead of Gordon Horth, a current councillor who received 1,002 votes, and Marsh Stevens, who earned 341 votes. Stone, who grew up in Ladysmith, is the president and general manager of Uforik Computers Inc. in downtown Ladysmith, and he is president of the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce and also a director with the Ladysmith and District Credit Union. “I just felt so good about the way we ran [the cam-
paign] and we never turned nasty,” Stone said Saturday night following the election. There will be three returning councillors and three new councillors. Newcomer Cal “Butch” Fradin received 1,465 votes, while newcomer Carol Henderson received 1,432 votes. Incumbent Duck Paterson received 1,410 votes, and current mayor Rob Hutchins, who has held that seat for seven terms, was elected to council with 1,329 votes. Incumbent Steve Arnett was elected with 1,230 votes, and former Public Works director Joe Friesenhan was elected with 1,029 votes. Incumbents Jill Dashwood (895 votes) and Bill Drysdale (873 votes) did not make it back onto council. The other candi-
Ladysmith business owner Aaron Stone has been elected as the town’s new mayor. SEAN SHERSTONE dates who ran were new- said Stone. “We’re blessed comers Robert Cross (961 with a good council to provotes), Thea Melvin (945 vide governance.” votes) and Cathleen McMaStone is looking forward hon (758 votes). to dealing with housekeep“I think we’ve got a strong ing items and establishing mix on council with three a higher level of discourse returning and three new,” and trust within munici-
pal government. Looking he has experience in govahead, he thinks they need ernment service with the to get to work on the Wa- Ministry of Transportation terfront Area Plan and con- and Infrastructure, being tinue to work on infrastruc- part of local government is ture and water security, all new to him. and he says he is already “I’m excited to get ideas talking to the Chamber of of how things are run and Commerce about down- hopefully do the right thing town revitalization. for people,” he said. Fradin was a bit taken Voter turnout is being aback by the fact he re- reported by the Town of ceived the most votes in his Ladysmith as 42.5 per cent. first time out. CivicInfoBC has turnout at “I thought it was very good 41 per cent, but either way, the people empowered me it is higher than the 29-perwith their trust to be on cent turnout in the last mucouncil,” he said. “I very nicipal election in 2011. much appreciate that. It In a non-binding referjust shows people were endum, Ladysmith voters looking for the change they were not in favour of the wanted, and hopefully I can Cowichan Sportsplex reprovide that. I was very ceiving dedicated annual grateful that they all voted funding from the Cowichan for me.” Valley Regional District, Fradin says he is getting with 1,734 people voting no, excited because although and 654 people voting yes.
There will be seven new faces at SD68 board table Lindsay Chung
THE CHRONICLE
There will be a lot of change at the School District 68 board table, as only two trustees from the current board will be returning. Preliminary results from the Nov. 15 election show that Stephanie Higgison had the most votes of the 23 candidates, with 9,545. She will be joined on the board by Scott Kimler with 8,490 votes, Jeff Solomon with 7,463 votes, Steve Rae with 7,270 votes, Natasha Bob with 7,243 votes, Tania Brzovic with 7,020 votes, Noah Routley with 6,752 votes, Jamie Brennan with 6,388 votes and Bill Robinson with 6,347. Only Brennan and Robinson sit on the current board. Higginson, a former high school teacher with an MA in Education Studies who
lives in Cedar, says she is shocked that she received so many votes, and she didn’t expect there to be such a sweep of the board. She feels optimistic about the new board. “They’re such a really strong, diverse, passionate group of people,” she said. “I’m really excited to govern and see where the future will take us.” Higginson says she’s excited to see so many new faces, and she also thinks it’s nice to see two trustees returning and bringing their knowledge and experience to the table. Higginson put her name forward as a trustee candidate with Kimler and Rae after the three worked together to advocate for community consultation and tried to get answers about the district’s 10-year Facilities Plan as part of Save Cedar Schools
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for about two years. The three ran on a platform of meaningful stakeholder engagement, democratic reform and studentcentred fiscal responsibility. Looking ahead, Higginson feels one of the good things about the new four-year terms for elected officials is they don’t have to get in there and start making changes right away — it gives them a bit of time. “I’m looking forward to catching my breath and seeing things from the other side,” she said. “I’m looking forward to being on the other side and getting answers, not just about facilities, but also about why and how decisions are made.” One simple thing Higginson thinks the new board could do very quickly to move toward a more open and responsive board is change the format of the board meetings. Currently, she finds them very disre-
spectful to the people who take the time to come and watch the meeting, and she would like to change the physical structure so that trustees are looking at the people who came to the meetings, and she would also like to see that people in the audience have an opportunity to speak and ask questions before any vote. Higginson is pleased to see that the new board will be more spread out in terms of geography. “I think what we’ve seen in this election is we had a board where everyone was from Nanaimo proper, and there was a feeling out there that the south end was targeted in the facilities closures,” she said. “I think what’s really great is there are people from the tip of the district all the way to the bottom. I think that means no community is See 3 Cedar-area page 3
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