With Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney’s recent announcement he will not seek re-election in this fall’s municipal election, the question is naturally who will step forward to try for the seat?
And, what of the sitting six members of Council?
Well one; Aaron Kienle, announced Tuesday he will run for the Mayor’s chair.
That a sitting Councillor is going for the top job is generally a positive.
That is not to suggest a fledgling mayor could not do the job, but there is a learning curve to municipal politics and to the position of mayor, and it would be good for voters to at least have the option of casting a vote for experience.
In the last election four sought support in what was a closely contested affair.
It would be the final poll which decided who would win the mayoral race, with Mayor Bob Maloney holding onto his chair by the thinnest of margins. Thirty-three votes separated him from his closest challenger, former councillor Chris Wyatt, who led the polls for most of the evening. It was the advance polls that decided the night, with Maloney getting 466 votes to Wyatt’s 386, just enough to eke out a victory. The final tally came in at 1933 for Maloney and an even 1900 for Wyatt. The remaining challengers, Calvin Tokarchuk and Andrew Probe, received 729 and 123 votes respectively.
As for the six seats on Council, only Randy Goulden was returned in 2016, the other five; Ken Chyz, Quinn Haider, Mitch Hippsley, Aaron Kienle and Darcy Zaharia are all first time Councillors.
The newcomers emerged from a rather crowded field which saw 17 hopefuls fall short, including three incumbents.
It will be interesting to see who file papers this time around in part because there has been a rather noticeable split in this edition of Council on some of the bigger decisions made recently in particular the roundabout that is part of the Mayhew/Darlington reconstruction, and how to best replace the condemned Public Works Building on York Road.
Both saw some members of Council questioning the recommendations of City Administration and the accuracy of the position of hired consultants. Both may well be fair comment depending on point of view, but it did show a split in Council that had Counc. Chyz, Zaharia and Hippsley looking for alternatives, with Maloney, Goulden and Kienle looking to forge ahead as recommended.
Coun. Haider was the swing vote as Council went round and round on both issues.
As a result it’s hard to see voters looking at the current Council as a potential return slate. The divide seems entrenched and that could mean voters go to one side, or the other, and look for like-minded new face candidates to fill out their ballots.
That will make for some interesting weeks leading up to the election in November as candidates emerge and file their papers.
