MD of Bonnyville residents elected incumbent Barry Kalinski as their Ward 4 councillor, Glen Johnson for Ward 5 and Fred Bamber for Ward 6 in the municipal election Oct. 18.
Kalinski received 56 per cent of the vote against his only challenger Marcy MacEachern. Ward 4 had the highest MD voter turnout at 535 voters.
Barry Kalinski said he felt great after winning re-election for a second term to Ward 4. As an active farmer, he harvested through the campaigning season, but still managed to go door to door to hear many residents' concerns.
He said roads would continue to be his largest priority. He would also like to see the MD continue to lobby the province to make changes to Highway 55, which he described as a “horror” to try and cross at certain peak times.
In the Ward 5 race, Johnson received 42 per cent of the vote with 196 votes. Incumbent Andy Wakaruk came not far behind with 38 per cent of the vote, only 18 votes behind Johnson. Newcomer James Sevenson received 93 votes, or 20 per cent.
“It feels great,” said Glen Johnson after getting elected back onto MD council for Ward 5. Johnson served as a councillor for Ward 5 from 1979 to 1985. “It's nice to be able to help and be able to do something, and hopefully we can achieve what we started off to do.”
He said he wants to work hard on better communications with MD neighbours. “Unless you can talk about things, how can you solve anything?” he asked.
Wakaruk said he thought the campaign was fair.
“Glen will be a good candidate,” he said. “I think he will do good for the people that are here. I wish him all the best.”
Bamber took a commanding lead in Ward 6, receiving 48 per cent of the vote facing off against three other candidates. Bamber received 246 votes, while Paul Gullackson came in next with 124 votes, 24 per cent.
Bob Engleder and incumbent Delano Tolley each received 14 per cent of the vote with 70 votes.
“The election went much the way I thought it would, and I contribute my success to just spending a lot of time campaigning,” Bamber said.
“To those of you with whom I may not have close association in future, I would like to thank you sincerely for your support and friendship during the past three years, and I wish you health and success in whatever that future may bring to you,” wrote Tolley in an e-mail to various media and government officials.
“I will miss that association, your friendly smiles, and wisdom, I have learned something from each of you. However, as with a good book, another chapter in my life has closed and others await to be opened and experienced.”
The following positions were acclaimed: Ed Rondeau - reeve, Don Sinclair- Ward 1 councillor, David Fox- Ward 2 councillor, and Mike Krywiak- Ward 3 councillor.
The MD of Bonnyville does not keep a voters list, so voter participation cannot be determined. Voters registered when they went to the polls.
