Cranbrook’s newest City Council was sworn in Thursday night, with now-Mayor Wayne Price at the helm.
Price said he looks forward to getting to work with the newly formed city council from the Mayor’s seat.
“I’m really excited about the council that was voted in. I think that certainly, with the diverse backgrounds they come from, we have a really diverse background,” said Price.
Political newcomer Lynnette Wray said her past experience working with local businesses and non-profits will be her strength on Council.
“I’ve been very fortunate to benefit from lots of professional development around good governance,” said Wray. “working in the non-profit sector for 25 plus years, I bring that community knowledge to the table. I’m hoping that will be helpful.”
Former mayor Wayne Stetski said he’s glad to be making a return to council chambers.
“I’m really looking forward to serving the people of Cranbrook and working on greening our city and making it a place that reflects where we are as a society,” said Stetski.
Norma Blissett is one of four incumbents who has made a return to council chambers. She said they plan on getting right back to work.
“We’re going to start off with the budget, and it’s good to have some experience with that,” said Blissett. “That’s always a fair bit of work, but it sets the course for the year. We’ll be starting on that right before Christmas or just after.”
Re-elected council member Wesley Graham said the council’s focus will likely shift in this term.
“When I was first elected, it started with roads, then it was housing, and now we have a bit more social issues with homelessness,” said Graham. “It’s not like you forget about those other things, but it gives you a bit more of a perspective on where the public is at.”
Returning council member Ron Popoff said there is plenty of ongoing projects the city council will be looking at, particularly with downtown development.
“It’s about how do we look going five, 10 40 years going forward to take the downtown and create that vibrancy,” said Popoff. “A big part of that is the need for housing downtown. We need that missing middle housing.”
Mike Peabody will also be making a return to council chambers. He hopes they will continue the momentum from their past work.
“We’re going to be building on the progress that we’ve been making,” said Peabody. “We’re trying to get more housing, help out with the homelessness situation that we have going on, and we’ll try to make it a better community for everybody.”
Cranbrook’s mayor and council took their oath of office at a ceremony held at the Cranbrook History Centre.
The inaugural meeting of the newly formed city council will go ahead on November 7th.