Springbank (Div. 2) will have a new representative to champion their causes and steer the course for the next four years in the tightest race of all the nine Rocky View County divisions.
Kim McKylor edged out Coun. Jerry Arshinoff with a 24-vote margin Monday night and will be sworn as the eighth new representative – as Greg Boehlke from Div. 6 is the only incumbent.
“It was close,” said McKylor of the narrow margin. “What that tells me is this is a division in transition.”
McKylor said while her opponent resonated with many longtime Springbank residents, she felt she struck a chord with many of the younger families moving into the community – those who appreciate the small acreage living but desire some more amenities.
“Change can be tough,” said McKylor, whose background includes 25 years in senior management roles in the oil and gas sector. “I think what people see in me is that I want to approach things in a very balanced way.”
McKylor, who is married with one grown daughter and has lived on a small acreage in the community for 20 years, said she is hoping for real change on council.
“People get tired of negative politicking … I’m hoping with eight new council members we can reset,” she said, adding that there has been too many instances of opposing councillors “calling one another out” in a “disrespectful and unproductive” way.
She said she would like to see approved projects get out of the ground – including Bingham Crossing, which has sat approved for five years.
Completion of the Springbank ASP to dictate future commercial growth is on her task list, as is providing opportunities for seniors to age in place.
McKylor said she hopes to start putting together resident task forces and facilitating town halls soon.
McKylor will formally resign tomorrow from her position as ambassador at the Discovery Centre for the Harmony development in Springbank – a job she took a leave of absence from at the end of August.
Jerry Arshinoff
Coun. Arshinoff will wrap up his first term on county council this week with the express hope his successor will best represent the needs and wants of the agriculturally-rooted community he has represented over the last term.
“I wish her well,” said Arshinoff, who has lived in his Springbank home for 32 years with his wife, Dianne, where they raised their five children.
Arshinoff spent 21 years as a high school principal and another dozen as a financial and economic development consultant. He has been an active volunteer, coach and community member and has sat on many charitable boards.
He remains concerned that the county has no business plan to govern development and that the development community has dictated change at the cost to the taxpayers – who have subsidized development through rising taxes wasted on bloated bureaucracy.
Arshinoff has consistently maintained a residents-first approach and has vocally expressed his discontent with the county’s public engagement, transparency and financial record.
He was an outspoken critic against the approval of gravel pits (three additional future pits recently approved north of Cochrane) prior to the implementation of an aggregate resource plan; the build of a $42-million new county administration building; and how the county has dealt with flooding issues.
“Crime has equaled flooding in terms of day-to-day problems,” said Arshinoff, who has appealed for enhanced policing and bylaw unsuccessfully.
He is also an advocate for the implementation of a Voter’s List to ensure transparency and eliminate voter fraud, as well as a financing committee.
Arshinoff plans to spend more time with his wife Dianne and their four grandchildren before entering the next realm of his professional life.
