Dave Carlson says he had a mixed reaction to hearing he'd been acclaimed to a second term as Reeve for the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin. Carlson was declared Reeve after no other candidates stepped forward during the nomination process for the October 26th municipal elections.
"It's a mix of being a little surprised, pleased and also, you always want to see democracy work and have an election, it shows that there are people interested in the area to run for such office. But, it's also good in the way that I have a great Council and staff that support me, and we think we're doing some really good work and making some headway, and I'm thinking that folks in our area want to see us continue," said Carlson.
The focus of most of that work has been economic development, and the Municipality's recently unveiled master plan for an area near the Canada/U.S. border crossing at Emerson, expanding outwards. This, noted Carlson, will remain a priority of his in the coming term.
"It's been four years working it. Things do move slower in government so, as much as you want things to happen right away, it does take time," he said. "But we followed the processes and we put ourselves in the position to be successful here so, we're going to continue with that. We're very excited that we're close to making some great things happen and bringing opportunities for jobs, for economic activity to our area."
Meantime, there are elections happening in three of the municipality's wards.
In Ward 1, Kim French is up against incumbent, Todd Nichols. Incumbent Brian Grier is facing off against Ron Mihaychuk in Ward 2. In Ward 6, it'll be Doug Johnston, Jeff Rodewald and incumbent, Brenda Lange on the ballot.
Acclaimed to Council are Orest Kuryk in Ward 3, Tony Dujlovic in Ward 4 and Dennis Weiss in Ward 5.