MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Third-term Mountain View County councillor Angela Aalbers has been elected reeve of the municipality by her fellow councillors.
The secret ballot election took place during the county’s organizational meeting on Oct. 27 following the Oct. 18 municipal election.
Aalbers, the Division 5 councillor, was one of two councillors nominated by fellow councillors for the reeve position, Division 2 councillor Greg Harris being the other. Harris was subsequently elected deputy reeve.
Aalbers is the first woman elected reeve of Mountain View County since it was incorporated in 1961.
The reeve is the municipality’s principal spokesperson and the chair of council meetings. The deputy acts in the reeve’s place when required. Both the reeve and deputy reeve are elected to one-year terms at the annual organizational meeting.
Aalbers, who had previously served as deputy reeve, says she is looking forward to helping lead the county over the next four years, including addressing numerous huddles facing the approximately 13,000-resident municipality.
“There are always challenges," she said. "Obviously we will have COVID ahead of us and then we have all of the impacts of the oil and gas industry, which is still a concern for us as far as financial.
“And we have impacts from the government. Obviously the government is in quite dire straits right now with funding, which we know will trickle down to municipalities. So we are going to have to be very fiscally responsible and this new council is ready to take on the challenges.”
Former Division 4 councillor Bruce Beattie was the reeve of Mountain View County from 2011 until the end of the 2017-21 term.
One of her top priorities as reeve going forward will be to support and encourage community engagement in matters affecting the entire county, she said.
“I think engagement with our residents and businesses is key and so I would like to, as reeve, really up our game on that,” she said. “Although the past reeve has done a fantastic job, I think this is taking it to the next level.”
The new council, made up of four incumbents and three newcomers, is well equipped for the term, she said.
“I’ve been very fortunate that every council I have been on, and this is my third term, we’ve normally had three or four returning councillors and three or four new councillors, and I think that has proven to be a very good mix,” she said.
“The new councillors that are on have a different skill set and have shown that they are very enthusiastic about the job and they are ready to hit the ground running.”
Aalbers holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta.
Deputy reeve Greg Harris, who served as deputy reeve during the last year of the past council term, says his experience as deputy, as well as previously chairing the municipal planning commission, will help him as deputy this term.
“I am always ready to back up the reeve when required,” said Harris, a former police officer.
All newly elected councillors were sworn in at the Oct. 27 council meeting. They are Dwayne Fulton (Division 1), Harris, Alan Miller (Division 3), Gord Krebs (Division 4), Aalbers, Peggy Johnson (Division 6) and Jennifer Lutz (Division 7).
