The community of Penhold re-elected Dennis Cooper to another term as mayor after a competitive race against opponents Heather Klein and Chad Hoffman.
“I've only been the mayor for three years and I'm really fortunate of the fact that I've been asked to serve for another (four) years,” Cooper said with a slight grin after the polling station closed at the Penhold Regional Multiplex on Oct. 21. “I have been on council for 12 years prior to that so I have brought a lot and I've learned a lot.”
Town of Penhold legislative assistant Melissa Daines said the electoral race drew a crowd of nearly 800 voters to the multiplex on election night. She noted that 58 people cast ballots during the advanced poll. The election results are unofficial until later this week.
After the count Hoffman was disappointed about the results and voiced his concerns with the future council.
“Penhold made their choice,” said Hoffman. “Let's see how it works. I feel great. We can leave the work up to somebody else.”
For Klein, however, the results were bittersweet.
“I'm thrilled, beyond thrilled, about how many people turned out to vote and that's what we need to see every election,” said Klein. “I'm happy that so many people decided to run because it gives people a choice about who to put in there. They picked the right six councillors, maybe they just didn't pick the right mayor.”
Klein said the results weren't what she expected, but hinted about her continuing aspirations within the community and the province.
“I'm not going to fade into the woodwork if that's what everybody thinks, far from it,” she added. “I'm not sure where I'm going from here, but I'm going to regroup and talk to some people here. Who knows, maybe it's provincial, or maybe we just do some more work and wait for the next election.”
But Cooper was ambivalent about the results. He explained the community would be faced with a loss with Klein, a former councillor, losing the vote and no longer sitting on council.
“Heather Klein is a great lady and she was a great running opponent. I know her family and herself worked very hard on their campaign,” said Cooper. “Heather brought a lot to this town and I hope that we can call on her to continue to work on committees and work on our town. I know she's that type of person, so this race is taking someone away from the town, unfortunately, and that person is Heather. I really appreciate all the hard work she's done to move our community forward.”
When asked about his opponent Hoffman, Cooper smirked again.
“I don't think Chad is going to go away,” Cooper explained. “I think Chad is going to continue to be active in the community and to try to bring points forward to make our community better. I wish him all the luck in the world.”
In addition, incumbent councillor Kathy Sitter was re-elected for a seat on council with rookie candidates like Julia King, Cory Kingsfield, Sharolyn Sanchez, Mike Walsh and Michael Yargeau.
“I'm very excited and I'm very happy,” Sitter said in the lobby of the multiplex. “We're going to have a really good team. We have experience, as well as some new people on board, and I think that it's going to be a really good four years. I'm very excited and Dennis (Cooper) got back on as mayor, so I think it's going to be a good four years.”
However, Sitter added the most important aspect of having a new roster is going to be teamwork.
“I want this council to really work well together and bond as a team, so we can get lots of projects done,” she explained. “There's lots to be done, we just have to really focus on working together.”
Candidates who were not elected in Penhold include George Grant, Roger Hovland, Phil Sandstra, Ross Simituk and Gary Yargeau.
But election night was an emotional one for many first-time councillors, including tears of joy from Yargeau and shock from Kingsfield.
“I didn't track my hours, but I worked at it every day for a few hours here and there. I handed out 900 flyers and I went door to door all by myself and my throat got sore from talking. My feet got sore, but I talked to a lot of people and got my message across so it was really good,” said Kingsfield with a look of disbelief in his eyes. “I think it will be a really good team to work with and I don't really, I'm new to this so I think it's going to be a good change for the town. We all know each other now, but we definitely need to get to know each other a little bit better now.”
