Upsets, close calls in South Okanagan municipal elections

PENTICTON – Each ballot definitely counted in a couple of close races in the Okanagan and Similkameen on Saturday.

Oliver’s incumbent mayor Ron Hovanes was upset in the municipal election on Saturday, Oct. 20, by newcomer Martin Johansen in the election, with Martin receiving 879 votes to Hovanes’ 719, according to the latest infomation from CivicInfoBC.

Incumbent Oliver councillors Veintimilla Petra, Mattes David, Rick Machial and Lawrence Schwartzenberger were returned to town council, while newcomers Grice Aimee and Parminder Sidhu were elected.

In Keremeos it was a tight race for mayor with incumbent Manfred Bauer defeating former councillor Arlene Arlow by only 15 votes. All four councillors were elected by acclamation including Jeremy Evans, Arden Holley, Sherry Philpott-Adhikary and Jason Wiebe.

Keremeos voters also approved a $350,000 loan to buy a new fire truck for the Keremeos and District Fire Department.

In Summerland, Toni Boot won the mayor’s chair over Janet Peake with 2,331 votes to Peake’s 1,724. Incumbent councillors Doug Holmes, Erin Trainer, Erin Carlson and Richard Barkwill were re-elected, along with newcomers Doug Patan and Martin Van Alphen, who served prior to 2014.

In Osoyoos, incumbent mayor Sue McKortoff easily beat her opponent Doug Peterson with 1,379 votes compared to Pederson’s 162.

Osoyoos council had three incumbents return to council: Claude Moreira, Jim King and Cecil John Rhodes. Brian Harvey, Myers Bennett and Kuldeep Dhaliwal were also elected to council.

In the Okanagan Skaha School District, Linda Van Alphen was re-elected in Electoral Area 2 in Summerland, with newcomer Dave Stathers also elected to represent Electoral Area 2.

It was a close contest for Kathy Pierre, who upset incumbent Ginny Manning for Electoral Area 3 (rural) by 14 votes with a count of 848 to 834.

The City of Penticton elected trustees Shelley Clarke, Tracy Van Raes, Barbara Sheppard and James Palanio.

The trustee seat includes West Bench, Naramata, the Penticton Indian Band and Kaleden.

In the Okanagan Similkameen School District, the seven trustees elected to serve school district include incumbents Casey Brouwer (Town of Osoyoos), Myrna Coates (Keremeos), Debra Marten (Keremeos) and Rachel Allenbrand (Town of Oliver). They are joined by newcomers Brenda Dorosz (Town of Osoyoos and Area “A”) and Janice Stevens (Okanagan Falls).

For a list of newly elected RDOS rural directors go here.

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