Rocky View County (RVC) has a new mayor and deputy mayor.
Division 3 Coun. Crystal Kissel was elected mayor after RVC council’s annual organizational meeting on Oct. 25, while Division 6 Coun. Sunny Samra was elected deputy mayor.
This is the first time either councillor has served in these positions, and each will hold these offices for the next year.
Unlike other nearby jurisdictions, the mayor of Rocky View County is always elected by his or her peers on council, and not directly by the general electorate. Previously, the mayor’s position had been a two-year term in RVC, which should have meant outgoing mayor Don Kochan (Div. 2 councillor) had one more year to serve after being elected in fall of 2021.
But a policy change in August, approved by council, changed the mayor’s and deputy mayor’s term to one year, which is in line with other counties across the province.
Prior to the Oct. 25 vote, Coun. Kochan submitted his resignation from the mayor’s role to allow council to be in line with the new policy. However, Kochan also communicated his desire not to let his name stand to be nominated again during the Oct. 25 meeting.
“I would like to thank council for working with me for the past year,” stated Kochan. “I surely enjoyed it. It was quite a good experience, and hopefully you’ve enjoyed it as well.”
Kochan went on to state he hoped to spend more time with his own constituents in Division 2 now that he would no longer be taking on additional duties as mayor. He listed issues of concern Division 2 was facing around the Springbank Area Structure Plan, plans for a new community centre, transportation needs, as well as water co-op concerns as being among the issues he would like to have more time to tackle head-on.
“There have been a lot of things happening in Division 2,” he told councillors.
After Kochan’s official resignation, council moved in-camera to hold a secret ballot vote among themselves to determine who would be the next mayor and deputy mayor. Kissel emerged as the winner of that vote when the public portion of the meeting resumed.
Kissel, who served as RVC deputy mayor for the past year, then presided over the formal election of Deputy Mayor Sunny Samra, who was acclaimed by council.
During the Oct. 25 organizational meeting, council also appointed councillors and public members to Rocky View Count’s various boards and committees. For the complete list of committee appointees visit rockyview.ca./news
