RDCK: election results roll in with some surprises
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Despite six of the 11 electoral areas having been decided by acclamation, there were significant races in the regional district Saturday night.
The unofficial results were handed in Saturday night and there were some surprising results, including the change in Area C (Duck Lake, Lakeview, West Creston and South Reclamation) with incumbent Area C director Adam Casemore (63 votes) falling behind Kelly Vandenberghe (214 votes) for the directorship.
Voter turnout was pegged at 23.9 per cent, out of 1,160 voters on the list.
The same fate awaited incumbent Area B director Tanya Wall who faced Roger Tierney in the election and fell behind in the end, only collecting 246 votes compared to Tierney’s 550. Voter turnout was also underwhelming at 22.1 per cent of voters on the list (total of 3,615 voters).
Since 2011 Ramona Faust had guided the Area E issues with a steady hand, but she stepped aside and opened up a field of four candidates: Reggie Goldsbury, Cheryl Graham, Dan Rye and Landon Veregin.
Graham (426 votes) narrowly edged Veregin (416 votes) for the Area E directorship, with Goldsbury (133 votes) and Rye (122 votes) rounding out the field. The voter turnout was slightly better at 32.8 per cent, out of a total of 3,386 voters on the list.
Keeping his streak of 36 years as the Area G director intact was Hans Cunningham (225 votes) as he edged out Anna Bundschuh (191 votes) and Farrell Segall (13 votes) on the ballot, with 33.3 per cent of the 1,287 voters on the list casting a vote.
In electoral Area J Rick Smith stepped aside from his seat on the board and Henny Hanegraaf (266 votes) will be replacing him as she collected more votes than Kim Tassone (193) for the directorship. A dismal 16 per cent voter turnout — out of 2,878 voters — was recorded.
The board also includes nine municipal representatives (appointed) from the cities of Nelson and Castlegar, the town of Creston, and the villages of Kaslo, Nakusp, New Denver, Salmo, Silverton and Slocan.
Uncontested
Under section 97 of the Local Government Act, six people were declared as the only candidates in their respective electoral area in the 2022 General Local Election, and ran uncontested.
They include Garry Jackman (Area A), Aimee Watson (Area D), Tom Newell (Area F), Walter Popoff (Area H) and Andy Davidoff (Area I). The only uncontested candidate who was not on the board previously was Teresa Weatherhead in Area K, where she will be replacing long-serving director Paul Peterson.
Peterson had been the Area K director for 20 years (six terms) and was also a New Denver councillor and RDCK director. Weatherheard was his alternate for the last term.
Watson was first elected to the board in 2014 and has served as the chair of the RDCK board for the last term. Davidoff was first elected in Area I in 2011 and returns to fill that role, while Popoff was elected in Area H one term before that in 2008.
Newell (Area F) has served on the board since 2014 with Jackman (Area A) in the same time frame.
