New mayor elected

There were officially 2559 votes cast in Strathmore overall.

Michael Ell defeated Steve Grajczyk for the position of the Town of Strathmore mayor. Ell came in with 1513 votes over Grajczyk’s 1024 votes.

Ell is happy to be taking his seat in Strathmore Council Chambers for the next four years. 

“I feel honoured to represent the fine people of Strathmore. Thank you for electing me. During the election, I promised to be financially prudent, to report my expenses, lobby for better care for seniors, to listen to you, plan the future for our town, to work with our community groups and our neighbouring municipalities. I will keep my promise,” said Ell. “I want to thank Steve for his well-run campaign and to thank him for his service to our town. I hope he will offer me some insight on on-going projects. I want to congratulate all the candidates for an engaging and informative campaign. The candidates during the election created awareness in our community. I look forward to working with the new council to meet the needs of our citizens. I would like to have all candidates help to make Strathmore the best it can be. A special thank you to those that supported me, the people that I spoke with and those that gave me advice, (especially) my wife and son for their belief in me.”

The 2013 election had a full slate of candidates. From those that re-ran in Strathmore, re-elected were Rocky Blokland with 1149 votes, Pat Fule with 1885, John Rempel with 1006 and Bob Sobol with 1252. 

Dave Hamilton obtained 982 votes, but was not re-elected this term.

New faces at the council table will be Denise Peterson, who attained 1360 votes and Brad Walls with 1518. 

Strathmore’s first council meeting with the new council members will be on Nov. 6.

The unsuccessful new running mates for Strathmore councillors were: Mark Giesbrecht who held 967 votes; Doug Clarke at 903; Tellissa Tebutt with 795; Allan Auger took 795; Robert Antonisse got 425; and John M. Wheildon with 416 votes.

An electronic voting machine was used to calculate the votes, sanctioned by the previous Strathmore Council. It made it easier to get totals out to the public. However, lineups were long for voters, who waited 15 to 20 minutes to cast their vote.

Wheatland County election officers still count the votes manually, which was made significantly easier with many of the present council reinstated by acclamation. Alice Booth – Division 1, Berniece Bland – Division 4,  Brenda Knight – Division 5, Glenn Koester – Division 6 and Ben Armstrong – Division 7, all watched with interest as to whether Don Vander Velde from Division 3 would return to Wheatland council chambers. Vander Velde came in with 157 votes, defeating Donna Biggar who had 137. 

The Division 2 race was a close split, with only a four vote spread between the top two candidates. Rex Harwood secured the win with 74 votes. The remaining votes: Jacki Kirk gained 70 votes, Colin Smith got 49, Ian Mast with 44 votes , Russel Smith had 23, and Kevin Miller had 18.

Harwood replaced Ken Sauve, who stepped down from council, and Harwood will bring a new perspective to Wheatland Council. The re-elected councillors are sure to be helpful in helping him to get oriented and to ‘break the new kid on the block’ easily. On Oct. 29, the Wheatland Council meets for an organizational meeting and between council members they elect the new reeve for the term and set out representatives for the various committees.

The first Wheatland Council meeting is Nov. 5. 

In the rural communities, Standard results were Allan Larsen coming out on top with 99 votes, followed by Ron Corbiell with 84, Martin Gauthier with 81, Adam Sommerfeldt with 65, Joe Pedersen had 59 and Mark Clark finishing with 55 votes. The top five will comprise council. They will be holding an organizational meeting to determine who will serve as mayor and that result should be determined by next week. 

Hussar voting gave Tim Muir 78 votes, Tim Frank with 77, Corey Fisher got 61 and Bruce Coffin came last with 18. The top three will comprise council.

In Rockyford, Darcy Burke came out a winner with 97 votes, Dalia Cheshire came second with 92 votes, Leah Marie Smith followed third with 85, Jayne Marie Koester had 80, Jerry Katterhagan got 71. Those five will make up the council and the mayor will be elected at their organizational meeting on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.  

Those that did not make council were Wayne Beerling with 70 votes, Greg Baillie with 43 and Natalie De Santis finishing with 34 votes.

School trustee in the Ward 5 division is Alan K. Larsen, who attained 540 votes with Corey Fisher coming second with 367 votes, four votes were spoiled. There were 911 votes cast in the ward. Larsen will be a new face along with Ward 1 Trustee winner Barry Kletke (Three Hills, Torrington, Huxley and area) with the remaining Wards re-elected by acclamation.

According to Election Alberta rules, all election winners remain as preliminary results, in case the vote is challenged and recounts are required. The positions become final after Oct. 25.

If any residents have signs belonging to candidates that are not picked up please give them a call so arrangements can be made to retrieve them.