Village of Clyde councillors elected Doug Nyal to serve as mayor and Nat Dvernichuk as deputy mayor at their organizational meeting on Oct. 15.
Dvernichuk was previously serving as mayor of the village, a position he stepped into following Wayne Wilcox’s decision to step down from council due to health reasons back in March.
Nyal previously sat as Clyde’s mayor for a few months after the 2010 election. He resigned the position in early 2011.
“When I decided to let my name stand to run for council this time around, I guess I decided if I’m going to be there, I might as well be there all in,” he said.
Nyal said the people who support him in the community urged him to get back at the helm.
Also, he said he felt they have good people working in administration right now that will make the job of mayor a lot easier. The Village of Clyde recently appointed Garth Bancroft, who previously headed up the Town of Westlock, as CAO back in July.
“I’d say that was one of the ... biggest reasons I let my name stand for the mayor’s chair,” he said.
Nyal noted he had been removed from the mayor’s chair by the previous council but only one of those four still have a seat.
“Those people’s personal agendas were long since achieved or not achieved,” he said. “The opportunity came to ... select another mayor and I felt I could do the same job I was doing before, so I decided to let my name stand.”
Nyal said his biggest personal priority was to put the new fire hall back on Westlock County’s agenda.
The county had been looking at putting a new fire hall in Clyde but delayed it due to some cost concerns until after the municipal election.
“My hope is to do what we can to get it back on the agenda for Westlock County,” he said.
His appointment also comes at a time when Alberta Municipal Affairs is undergoing a dissolution study for the Village of Clyde.
Nyal said his understanding was the study will weigh the “good things that are going on, as well the things that need improvement” with the village’s operations and state whether it would be better to remain its own entity or join with another municipality.
Nyal said he expects a favourable report back, though he noted that’s not grounded in any inside information or opinion.
“It’s not whether I’m in favour of it or not in favour of it; it’s a process dictated by the minister (of Municipal Affairs),” he said.
