WESTLOCK - Two newly-elected councillors will serve as Westlock County’s reeve and deputy reeve for the next 12 months.
At the county’s Oct. 26 organizational meeting, recently-elected Division 7 Coun. Christine Wiese was declared reeve following a secret-ballot vote, unseating incumbent Coun. Jared Stitsen, who’s served as reeve for the past year and has been the Division 2 rep since 2017 — Stitsen was the only county councillor to be acclaimed in the Oct. 18 municipal election. Further, Coun. Ray Marquette, who reclaimed Division 3 in the municipal election, beat both Stitsen and Division 5 incumbent Coun. Isaac Skuban in the secret-ballot vote for deputy reeve. Councillors were also assigned other committee appointments (see below) at the annual meeting, which was chaired by CAO Kay Spiess until Wiese was installed as reeve.
Wiese, who said in a follow-up interview that she was “surprised” to even be nominated, is ready for the challenge and called the job “a huge responsibility” she’s ready to tackle. Of the seven-member board, four have no previous county council experience, while Marquette last served from 2015-2017 before losing in that year’s municipal election. In addition, Wiese is the third different person to serve as reeve in the past three years following Stitsen, 2019-2020, and former Division 3 Coun. Lou Hall, who sat in the head chair from 2017 to 2019, and was also a rookie councillor when she was elected as the first female reeve in county history.
“I was humbled to have the support of residents to be elected as the councillor for Division 7 and I’m truly honoured that my fellow council members have similar faith to elect me as reeve. It’s a huge responsibility,” said Wiese, who joins Hall as the only other woman to serve as Westlock County reeve.
“There’s five new members of council and ratepayers did ask for change and I think they’re going to see it. I look forward to growing in this role and I want to do the best job that I can for Westlock County.”
The 45-year-old married mother of a blended family of five adult children said she’s personally committed to “engaging and listening” to not only residents, but “building good relationships” with the rest of council to find “balance” for the municipality. Similar to a mayor, the reeve acts as the chair of council meetings and is the group’s spokesperson. Where the two positions differ is that a mayor is elected every four years by the entirety of the ratepayers, while a reeve is elected annually by a vote of council — in the Village of Clyde the mayor position is the same as the reeve and is elected on a yearly basis by council.
“I think we have an amazing group of people and we can really do some great things together. Following the election I think we’re all on quite a high and I really want to keep that momentum going,” said Wiese, who makes her living running a mixed farming operation with her husband Troy.
“As reeve my main thing will be to work towards building consensus amongst members of council. I’m a strong believer in finding balance and we need to find balance and learn about each other and utilize the strengths of each councillor. We have great people that have a whole lot of knowledge, whether that’s government knowledge or just life experience. So let’s utilize that so we can be the best team we can be.”
Since the Tuesday-afternoon vote, councillors have been going through an intense orientation that included a session with George Cuff, who is the past president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, and is considered a foremost authority on municipal governance. Cuff has authored numerous manuals and publications on topics relating to municipal government, public sector administration and leadership and has conducted organizational studies and/or seminars for more than 300 organizations, including both the public and private sectors
“The session today with George Cuff was very, very informative. One of the things that I’ve enjoyed so far is the education part. It’s been good,” she said.
Stitsen, who also called the results a little surprising the day after the vote, said he’s now looking forward and is anxious to get back to the business at hand. The county’s first regular meeting is slated for next Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 9:30 a.m.
“We’re going to work together as a council and as I said before I look at this as being a clean slate. We have the budget coming up and that will be a big job,” said Stitsen.
