Rossland: Here's our new City Council
Meet your new Rossland City Council.
The voting is over, the votes are counted, and we know who our Council members, along with acclaimed Mayor Kathy Moore, will be for the next four years – barring any unforeseen events.
The six successful candidates are:
Andy Morel
Janice Nightingale
Chris Bowman
Dirk Lewis
Stewart Spooner
Scott Forsythe
A total of 1237 Rossland voters exercised their franchise, out of a possible (estimated) 2704.
Congratulations to the six new councillors, and our gratitude goes to all the candidates for offering to do the job and giving the voters choices. We note that 102 voters ignored all the well-publicized pleas to NOT vote for Andrew Zwicker, and voted for him anyway. Maybe they’re like the people noted below, who are so difficult to communicate with about anything at all.
Sometimes it’s hard to get information to residents, who are all busy with their own lives. Organizers of events have expressed frustration, saying, “It was in the Rossland Telegraph. It was in the Rossland News. It was on Bhubble, and in the Penny Wise. It was on our FaceBook page, and in Rossland Talks, and we had posters up all over town. And I just talked to (X) and he said he hadn’t seen anything about it.”
May our new Council continue to consult with residents, communicate as well as possible about the issues facing the City, and work collegially together to resolve them for the good of all. And may all of us residents take an interest, respond to the best of our abilities, and keep track of what’s going on.
The challenge now is with resident Rosslanders to pay attention. Please: read reports on Council; see how each new Council member interacts with the others and votes on all the things that matter. Keep track. Yes, the national and international news is important too, but this is where you live, and decisions made here are the ones you can influence more directly – and which influence us more directly.
So be an engaged citizen — stick your oar in as best you can to help steer us.
Historically, Rosslanders have been good about that. Let’s all help keep up the tradition.