Staff
Monday’s election brought change to several municipalities in Rainy River District.
According to unofficial results, Jack Siemens was elected mayor of Emo with 345 votes, beating incumbent Vincent Sheppard (180).
“I’m looking forward to working with the new council,” Siemens said yesterday, adding he’s very happy with the results.
“I think Emo is ready for a change,” he remarked. “I’m going to see what’s going on and hopefully we can improve and give the town to the people.
“It is the town’s people, after all,” he added. “Whatever they want, we’ll see what we can do.”
Siemens previously worked as arena manager, as well as with the parks and cemetery crew.
“I figured I could probably make a difference in town,” he reasoned. “Maybe we can take some of my experience and put it to good use.
“I want to give the town a good future.”
Joining him on Emo council are incumbent Anthony Leek (239 votes) and newcomers Scott Kinnear (328), Michelle Marinaro (285), and Michael Loney (246).
Incumbents Vernon Thompson (206), Gary Judson (177), and Ken Fisher (172) failed to win re-election, as did newcomers Geoff Pearce (176) and Daniel Young (122).
Meanwhile, a former reeve was elected in La Vallee, where Ken McKinnon (214) reclaimed the seat from incumbent Ross Donaldson (102).
“It’s exciting but sort of scary because now all of a sudden the pressure is on,” McKinnon admitted, though vowing he plans to do his best for the community.
“Dollars are hard to come by and they have to be spent very wisely,” he stressed.
“We have to try to get as much value out of our dollars as possible in order to try to keep taxes down at a reasonable level.”
McKinnon said he had confidence heading into Monday’s election and is pleased with the support he received for residents.
Incumbent councillors Dennis Allen (177) and Lucille MacDonald (174) were re-elected in La Vallee, along with newcomers Murray Witherspoon (226) and Irwin Hughes (159).
Incumbents Freeda Carmody (121) and Jim Belluz (103) were not re-elected while newcomers Robin Payeur (84) and Brian Kellar (53) also were unsuccessful in their bids for council.
In Morley, George Heyens (144) beat out Tyler Nordin (36) for the reeve’s chair.
Joining Heyens as councillors will be David Loewen (137), Anthony Armstrong (136), incumbent Gary Jolicouer (117), and Andrew McCormick (107).
Chad Jackson finished with 80 votes.
In Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls, Jerry O’Leary was elected mayor with 314 votes, beating out Wayne Helliar (116) and Chan Motlong (87).
Gale Black (303) and incumbent Norbert Dufresne (237) earned seats as councillors at large, finishing ahead of Tony Gill (180), Christopher Frenette (139), and Laurie Mayer (92).
Suzanne Hrynczuk (164) narrowly beat out incumbent Lou Kabel (160) for the Ward 1 seat while Phil Hudson was acclaimed for Ward 2.
In Chapple, the only race was for the Ward 4 seat, with Ted Zimmerman (19) reclaiming his position over Tom Roen (three).
Acclaimed were reeve Peter Van Heyst, Ken Wilson (Ward 1), Rilla Race (Ward 2), and James Gibson (Ward 3).
And in Rainy River, Mayor Deborah Ewald (218) and incumbent councillors Larry Armstrong (244), Ashley Stamler (221), Susan Carpenter (181), and Gordon Armstrong (172) were re-elected.
They will be joined by Pat White (267) and Gordon Prost (244) after the council there was increased from four seats to six.
Brent Anderson (120) was unsuccessful in his bid for mayor, as was Sherri Materi for a council seat.
In Dawson, Linda Armstrong upended incumbent Eltjo Wiersema for reeve.
Elected to council were incumbent Brenda Jodoin (117), along with newcomers Bill Langner (154), Douglas Hartnell (142), and Vaughn Murray (91).
Falling short were newcomer Dawn Drennan (90), along with incumbents Archie Wiersema (82) and Aime Desaulniers (80).
In Alberton, the incumbent council—Reeve Michael Hammond and Couns. Mike Ford, Jennifer Johnson, Peter Spuzak, and Wayne Woods—was acclaimed.
The incumbent council for Lake of the Woods Township—Rreeve Val Pizey and Couns. Glenn Anderson, Colleen Fadden, Bill Lundgren, and JoAnn Moen—also was acclaimed.
