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Candidates off to the races

There are some new faces running for positions on Rossland city council for the upcoming term.

There are some new faces running for positions on council for the upcoming term. New among the runners are Jody Blomme, Bob Chamut, Cary Fisher, David Klein, Tim Thatcher and Sharon Wieder. Andrew Bennett has recently dropped out of the race.

The incumbent candidates are Laurie Charlton, Kathy Moore, Jill Spearn and Kathy Wallace. Current mayor Greg Granstrom has been acclaimed for another term.

Granstrom said he was surprised there were no other runners for mayor, but was content with the turnout for other council positions.

“It’s good to see others interested for sure,” Granstrom said. “I think last time we had eight running for council.”

This year, he said the numbers show a variety of council candidates.

“We have a good mix of experienced councillors, team players, with some young people that are also team players,” he said. “So I think the community will have a good opportunity to choose some people that are willing to work as a team and to move our city forward.”

He said one of his goals at the beginning of the term was to get more people on the ballot.

“I think that was accomplished. While I’m not being challenged, we have some great people running for council seats,” he added.

Granstrom said the big issues that he sees for his next council will be continuing the plans for the Columbia-Washington renewal as well as the city’s sewer-liquid waste management and what will be done with the city’s schools.

The sewer liquid waste management plan is needed to get sewage up to the secondary treatment.

“It’s going to be a big one,” he said. “It’s starting right now, it’s not going ahead yet, but it’s being set up right now. It is a planning stage to start with, so it’s just getting the players together and that kind of thing.”

The candidates for the local government and school district election were announced last Friday.

Gordon Smith has been acclaimed as trustee for the City of Rossland.

The school election is run exactly the same as the municipal election and so the city has an agreement with SD20 to run their election for them, though the trustee has already been acclaimed.

Tracey Butler, election officer for the City of Rossland, said most municipalities do that for their school district because they run at the same time.

The general election is Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We also have advanced voting on Nov. 9 and 16, but we don’t count votes then,” Butler said. “We only count votes after the close on the 19th.”

Butler said you can be a property owner and non-resident, but only one person is allowed to vote. “Let’s say that somebody owns a condo (in Rossland), but lives in Vancouver. If they own that with two other people, only one person can vote, not all three. Non-resident property electors pay taxes here … They also shave to be residents of B.C., Canada, and cannot be criminals.”

She said most places have advanced voting.

“You have to have advanced voting on the 16 and you have to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., that’s for all municipalities,” she said. “We chose to have a second opportunity, which is the ninth.”

She said anybody can vote in the advanced polls, and a person doesn’t have to have a reason not to be at the Nov. 19, since it used to be that you could only be at the advanced polls if you had a reason for not going to be there on the 19th, but now anybody can vote in that poll.

Butler said the to vote, you must be 18 years of age or older, a Canadian citizen, a resident of B.C. for at least six months as well as resident or at least owner of property for at least 30 days and also not disqualified by any other law.

Other than that, Butler just says: “Get out and vote!”