SUMMERLAND REVIEW THE VOICE OF OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1908
VOLUME 67 - ISSUE
WHAT’S INSIDE:
WWW.SUMMERLANDREVIEW.COM
Councillors replaced NO. 47 • S U M M E R L A N D, B.C. • T H U R S D AY,
NOVEMBER
20,
2014
•
20
PA G E S
•
$1.15
INCLUDING
GST
by John Arendt
Agricultural excellence
The Pacific Agrifood Research Centre was recognized for a century of agricultural research.
Page 6
Outstanding apple growers
Several Summerland fruit growers received national awards for their apples.
Page 7
Benefit concert
A concert later this month will raise funds for women in North Africa.
Page 8
Pageant program
Royalty candidates in the 2015 Blossom Pageant have already started preparing for the spring event.
Page 14
Hockey tourney
The Atomic Fireball Jets hosted teams from around the province in a weekend hockey tournament.
Page 15
YOUR SMILE I understand how batteries feel because I’m seldom included in things either.
Mayoral winner
In a close election on Saturday, Peter Waterman was elected to serve as Summerland’s mayor for the next four years. Four of the five candidates for mayor were within 200 votes of each other. Waterman plans to set up a mayor’s task force to focus on the local economy.
Electors choose Waterman as mayor Vote count close in five-way race by John Arendt In a close mayoral race, Peter Waterman was elected to the municipality’s top elected role, defeating his closest rival by just 77 votes. Waterman, who had served as a councillor, was elected mayor with 1,197 votes out of the 4,428 ballots cast in the five-way mayoral race. There are an estimated
8,600 eligible voters in Summerland. Roch Fortin, the secondplace finisher, garnered 1,120 votes. David Gregory, a former Summerland councillor and mayor, finished with 1,005 votes, while Orv Robson, a member of the current council, had 1,003. Christopher Boisvert-Gilman was the fifth-place finisher with 103 votes. Waterman has set out goals for the first 100 days of the new council.
He plans to introduce a motion to withdraw the application to remove land from the Agricultural Land Reserve. The land exchange, approved by council earlier this year, is before the Agricultural Land Commission. It calls for the removal of 80.34 hectares of land within the land reserve near the core of the community, while 91.7 hectares in the Prairie Valley area would be added to the land reserve. See MAYOR’S Page 2
It was a time for change as Summerland voters replaced the members of municipal council. Mayor elect Peter Waterman was the only member of the past council to continue at the table. Of the six councillors elected on Saturday, none has been part of the Summerland council before and only one has previous council experience elsewhere. There were 16 candidates vying for the six councillor positions. “It was an indication that we needed a change,” said councillor elect Toni Boot. Boot was elected with 2,819 votes, followed by Erin Trainer with 2,214, Erin Carlson with 2,096, Richard Barkwill with 1,843, Janet Peake with 1,707 and Doug Holmes with 1,650. While Peake has served at the municipal level in Ontario, the rest of the councillors who were elected have not served on councils in the past. Erin Carlson, a vocal opponent of the municipality’s Urban Growth Plan, saw the election results as a show of public opposition to the plan. “We just had a little referendum,” Carlson said after the election results were announced on Saturday evening. The growth plan included a controversial land exchange. In spring, a petition circulated by Carlson and others in the Stop the Swap movement was signed by more than 1,200 Summerlanders. Candidates opposed to the growth plan received the strongest support in the election. Most of those elected had earlier spoken out against the growth plan, especially the controversial land exchange, while those in support of the plan rated lower in the polls. Trainer said the outcome of the vote also means a heavy responsibility for those who were elected. “Now the hard work begins,” she said. Peake said the mix on the new council will be exciting. She said she has never before worked with this many women on a municipal council. Holmes said the council members represent a range of different experiences and personalities. “We all have something to offer,” he said. “If you have clever people around the table, you’re going to work it out and do what’s best for the community.” “There’s a lot of work ahead, but I think it’s a great group of people,” Barkwill said. The remaining candidates were John Dorn with 1,605 votes, Denise MacDonald with 1,569, incumbent Robert Hacking with 1,461, incumbent Martin Van Alphen with 1,449, Joel Gregg with 1,330, incumbent Bruce Hallquist with 1,276, Mark Smed with 855, Ken Rodocker with 560, Daniel Papadopolous with 205 and Marty Fisher with 181. The new council will take office at the beginning of December. The next municipal election will be in October, 2018.