Council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover has a much different look today. Voters in Hanover elected three new councillors.
In Ward One, Travis Doerksen (251 votes) defeated incumbent Peter Hiebert (211). Voter turnout in that ward was 45 per cent.
"Fairly excited right now," says Doerksen. "I've had a lot of support, a lot of feedback and I'm just happy that I'm able to represent Ward One and the people in it and hopefully I can bring their concerns and issues and stuff to the table and go from there."
Doerksen says one of the concerns he heard on the campaign trail was that there was a lack of listening from the previous council.
"I'm hoping that I can take everybody's concerns and issues and kind of do something positive with it," he says. "It's not just about a phone call, it's about dealing with the problem and listening to peoples' concerns and being transparent and honest."
Doerksen says the first order of business will be to get his feet wet and familiarize himself with the position. And then, it is time to tackle some issues.
"There are some key issues that I think we need to look at in New Bothwell and for one being the water issue and for two, definitely some town upgrades," he says.
In Ward Four, the new councillor is John Giesbrecht, taking over from Dylan Barkman who did not seek re-election. Giesbrecht took 227 votes, compared to Curtis Dawydiuk with 192, Larry Pries with 74, Mel Kachur with 70, Neil Warkentin with 63 and Mel Funk with 45. Voter turnout in that ward was 65 per cent.
"I'm a little stunned, it's a little surreal, but I realize it is true," says Giesbrecht. "The numbers don't lie."
"It's kind of like winning the Indy 500, you've got 32 other cars you are racing against," he explains. "But I kept my foot on the gas the whole time and stayed focused and it paid off."
Giesbrecht says the message he heard at the doors was that people want transparency.
"People wanted to know what was going on, they wanted to know what their tax dollars were doing," he says. "My message to them was always that I'm working for them because we're all taxpayers so my job as an elected official is to represent them."
Giesbrecht says being chosen to represent Ward 4 is humbling but he appreciates the support.
"It's a bit surreal," admits Warkentin. "But (Wednesday) night it was really good to see that the voter turnout it was high and to see that kind of support for me was very humbling."
Warkentin says early on, his team knew it would run a campaign with integrity. He says he is glad the people of Kleefeld and area saw the need for a change in direction. Warkentin notes people living in the rural parts kept bringing up issues of roads, speed limits and dust control, while residents living in Kleefeld kept asking about the Kleefeld Recreation Association (KRA).
Warkentin says it is his belief that the issues surrounding the KRA this year impacted Wednesday's vote.
"Definitely," he says. "I think a lot of people knew the rumours from before and when it started coming out, it really resonated with people that it was time to make a change and they had an opportunity to do so."
Warkentin says bringing the house in order will be his first order of business, referring to the KRA. He notes there is a chance to inflict change at next week's annual general meeting where several positions are up for re-election.
Other than that, Warkentin says he looks forward to bringing a new sense of community back to Kleefeld.
"We have a lot of young families and we really need to provide facilities and support structure for them as well as the other age groups," he says. "But I'm also really excited about bringing the milk and honey back to the Honey Festival."
Rounding out the new council will be Reeve Stan Toews and councillors Bernie Stahn, Bob Brandt and Jim Funk.
Wed, Apr 24, 2:30 PM
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