It seems we can’t go more than a couple of weeks around here without having a byelection called.
After two in Clyde in less than a year, there is now an open seat on Westlock County council to represent Division 5 following the recent resignation of Darrell Osmond, and the first candidate to submit his nomination papers may be a familiar name to some who read the Westlock News on a regular basis.
David Woynorowski has made his concerns with how the county conducts its business quite clear through numerous Letters to the Editor over the last year. He is also one of the only fixtures, outside of municipal representatives themselves, that attends public meetings on a regular basis, where he is also quite vocal about his concerns with transparency and how certain decisions by council were arrived upon. He was also responsible for an Internet survey of county residents earlier this year.
He should be lauded for his interest in municipal affairs, if nothing else, and for putting his name up, as should every single councillor on every single council, and every single person who ran against them in municipal elections, for even putting their name forward. They recognize that service to their communities is a noble and necessary venture.
That’s not to say it’s an easy job, or for the faint of heart, but if you ask those who come through the other end of an election cycle, it’s one of the most rewarding things a citizen can do for their community.
It has the makings of an interesting contest, should anyone else throw their hats in the ring. This is the home division of the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill, and the only division in the county to vote in favour of keeping it under municipal control in the non-binding plebiscite held during the last municipal election.
There are a lot of potentially interesting candidates in that division, who hold the ski hill close to their hearts, and it is also the home of a former county reeve, who lost by just a single vote to Osmond during the same election.
That said, it would be a shame if Woynorowski was just handed the seat by acclamation.
We’d like to see at least a couple more residents, with their own concerns, come forward and we encourage them to let us know as soon as they make it official.
