Following the Oct. 26 municipal election, mayor-elect Jeff Kohler admitted that the composition of the incoming council is somewhat surprising.
“In all honesty, I was shocked that three of them (existing councillors) were replaced, and they are certainly going to be missed around the table.”
He has communicated with Coun. Joan Rymal, and “I am hoping that she’ll be open to some discussions because I certainly appreciate her wisdom, and I am looking forward to continuing our friendship, and the same with Jim (Coun. Jim Herbert) and see what we can do to ensure that they stay involved and keep giving us the input that they were so good at doing when they were sitting around the table.
“Unfortunately, with her, somehow, it went around that she was appointed to council with a deal not to run in the election. And I’m certainly not aware of any deal like that being entered into.
“And I know when Joe (Mayor Joe Preston) tendered his resignation, the field certainly changed. And when I had made my decision to run, I approached her and asked her if she was considering running.”
Kohler continued, “You know, I’m not sure what went on through the minds of voters.”
He stressed, “We have serious work to do, and we’re going to do it. We’ll continue to function as a team, but if some individuals choose not to work the way we’ve worked in the last eight years, that will be their own decision. And I’m sure that it will show for the public.
“What they worked toward in their campaign might be a little bit difficult to do under the current situation because we do have a good financial plan in place to make sure that we’re not having too great an impact on the ratepayers.”
“We’ve got to hit the road running. I’m going to be sitting down with the new members of council and filling them in as much as I can and answering any of the questions that they have.
Kohler continued, “What they worked toward in their campaign might be a little bit difficult to do under the current situation because we do have a good financial plan in place to make sure that we’re not having too great an impact on the ratepayers.
“But if some people want to be forceful with some of the projects that they promised during the election, we could see a totally different budget, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of the members are going to stick with the plan that we have in place and continue to move things forward.
“And as long as we continue to have those discussions, we’ll continue to come up with the plans that will move our city forward as we have been.”
As to his return as the head of council, Kohler pointed to his working relationship with the department heads at city hall.
“When I was mayor last time, I had no city manager. We definitely have a great management team right now that I’m looking forward to working with. And that goes right back to working with (former City Manager) Sandra Datars Bere as we started to assemble the team and bring people on like (Executive Director, Industrial Development) Justin Lawrence and Adam Boylan in the Treasury Department. So I’m looking forward to it. We have a strong team.
“And as long as we continue to have those discussions, we’ll continue to come up with the plans that will move our city forward as we have been.”
Written by Ian McCallum
