Mayor Ivan Brooker will step down from the helm on Monday, having lost an election themed on change to mayor-elect Jeff Genung.
“I have no question that Jeff will do a great job,” said Brooker, who is wrapping up his first term as mayor and two non-consecutive terms on council.
Coun. Ross Watson was also unsuccessful in his re-election and will be leaving public office after serving five non-consecutive terms.
Brooker lost with 2,252 votes to 4,321 for his successful opponent. Twenty-five year old Tom Hardy also ran, coming in with 440 votes.
He attributes the loss largely to a voting public that perhaps did not have all the facts put in front of them – with reference to social media posts that he felt carried half-truths and misinformation from other candidates.
“There is always more to the story than what people believe,” Brooker said.
He said he hopes the big changes on town council, with only two successful incumbents, do not derail any projects that are “critical” to the community – including the intersection at highways 1A and 22.
“I think the ‘stop growth’ message is dangerous,” said Brooker, adding that he hopes the new council, with the help of administration, will continue to push heavily for the long-overdue intersection – which he feels the province could possibly push back down the priority list if they hear that council wants to stop or significantly slow down growth.
Brooker takes pride in the relationships he and his team have built with the province to push the intersection project forward, which is slated to begin next year.
Big projects coming online that he is hopeful council will get up to speed on quickly include the new RCMP station in Heartland and the pedestrian rail crossing at Horsecreek Road.
Campaign talk about moving an underpass at Centre Avenue up the priority list will cost money – reiterating that it’s either off-site levies or taxes that pay for projects.
Should the new council put the brakes on development, Mayor Brooker does not see how taxes would not increase.
Over the last four years, Brooker said he is very proud of having a total cumulative tax increase of 1.79 per cent. While property tax assessments have gone up, Brooker emphasized this was due to school taxes increasing, something out of municipal hands.
“Growth has paid for a lot of things we needed,” said Brooker, adding that if council wants to steer the ship in a different direction than it has been on for the better part of a decade than the town needs to be prepared for the consequences that may lie ahead.
He added the newly-elected council’s consensus to attract more business and commercial could also be a hard sell, should residential growth slow down excessively – as the two “go hand in hand.”
Brooker said he wishes council well and is looking forward to what the future holds in store for he and his family – with whom he opted to spend election night with rather than attending the RancheHouse with roughly half the candidates for the announcement.
