The new mayor and council of District of Clearwater were sworn in on Nov. 1, at the Dutch Lake Community Centre.
After being piped into the meeting by Grant Halls, Mayor Merlin Blackwell, who was re-elected for his second term, was sworn in by reciting the oath of office, along with councillors Shelley Sim, Lyle Mackenzie, Lynne Frizzle, Ken Matheson, Theresa Braaten and Bill Haring.
The inauguration ceremony took place in place in the presence chief administrative officer John Thomas and several community members who attended.
There was a strong sense of unity among the mayor and council, who thanked the community for electing them to office for the next four years.
“It’s a good team. We all know each other,” Blackwell told the Clearwater Times.
After being re-elected Blackwell had said the biggest issue at hand, that the new council will have to tackle, is the housing boom.
The district will look at getting the infrastructure in place as well as internal planning, and zoning in order to support that.
“…We really need that housing to happen because we have a shortage of employees everywhere,” mayor Blackwell had told Clearwater Times upon being re-elected, adding, “Our nursing and doctor shortage here has been well documented and we’re doing well right now with interim people, both on the nurses and the paramedic side. But if we don’t have enough housing, that’s going to be an impossible task to fill some of those jobs long term.”
The mayor had also hinted that the district will also look at dealing with climate change related issues on a local level such as fire smarting the community and look at back-up generation.
“These are all things that we now have to put into the planning process moving forward and budget for and think about and do emergency planning for there’s so much that it affects,” Blackwell had said.
District of Clearwater’s next council meeting will be held on Nov. 15.
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