New councillors getting to work

After taking top spot in last night’s by-election, councillor-elect Colleen Tatum says she’s getting to work right away.

“I’m going to try and do some more studying, some more reflecting, continue to talk to folks,” she said. “And I do need to spend a little bit of time with my two little guys, who haven’t seen Mom as much for the last month.”

Second-place finisher Christine Burton says she already knows what issues need to be tackled first.

“One of the continuing priorities, of course, continues to be land release, and the strategic plan for transportation,” she said. “As we grow, those pressures get greater and greater, and most frustrating for the residents.”

Tatum says she’s looking forward to bringing her campaign ideas to the table.

“I’d like to see more businesses,” she said. “One of the big things that I talked about is the creation of a downtown zone where people can live and work. Create that little zone that you love to go [to] when you visit somewhere else, and [that] you wish we had here.”

Burton says even though turnout was low, she saw plenty of new voters coming out.

“We really reached out to different ethnic communities this election,” she said, “and it resulted in a lot more voters from those communities, and I think it’s really important to engage them in the democratic process.”

Turnout was about 9% according to the municipality.

Published June 26, 2012