There will certainly be some familiar faces when the new council for the Rural Municipality of Piney is announced next month.
Ward 1 Councillor Ken Prociw and Ward 2 Councillor Dale Edbom have each won their respective seats by acclamation. In Ward 3, incumbent David Beaudry is up against Jacob Dyck, while in Ward 4, there will be a new councillor, with Mark Bernard being acclaimed there.
There will also be a familiar face leading council as Reeve Wayne Anderson is back by acclamation.
"I'm quite excited about it actually," says Anderson. "Looking forward to completing a lot of the things we've been working on."
Anderson admits he was a little concerned that if there was too much turnover on council, some of the initiatives they have been working on might get lost with the new team. He notes there are both pros and cons to familiarity. On the positive side, Anderson says by having most of council return, it saves a lot of time because they have already debated many of the topics and know the direction they want to proceed.
"At the same time, maybe one or two couple of new councillors could bring fresh perspectives to it," he adds.
Anderson was first elected Reeve in 2014. That year, an entirely new council was elected. Anderson is now wrapping up his eighth year and second term as Reeve. He says some of the things he has helped accomplish as Reeve include promoting the area, which in turn raises property value, encourages construction and lifts the municipality's population.
Over the next four years, Anderson says he will continue to work towards getting an assisted living facility built, in collaboration with East Borderland Community Housing. He notes their dreams for a personal care home were squashed when Southern Health told them they would not consider a 20 bed facility, which is what they were proposing.
Another priority of his is to achieve cost savings through the new waste management and recycling program established in partnership with Stuartburn and Buffalo Point. One final project will be to continue paving some of their gravel roads.