Westlock County councillors chose one of their new members, Bud Massey, to serve as the new reeve of the municipality at an organizational meeting on Oct. 29.
Massey, who defeated incumbent Charles Navratil to win the Div. 4 seat in the Oct. 21 municipal election, was nominated by another councillor for the position. As he was the only candidate, he was elected as reeve by acclamation.
In an interview after the meeting, Massey said he let his name stand because some people had approached him earlier about serving as reeve.
“I felt that I had something to offer and I felt very humbled by (the nomination),” he said. “I want to contribute to our county as much as I can.”
He said he is very appreciative of his fellow councilors giving him that opportunity and it is very humbling to be picked. However, he admits he is somewhat nervous about taking on such a big job.
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” he said, noting that county council is currently in a very intensive learning phase with four out of seven being new to council.
“There’s still a tremendous amount to learn in the way of bylaws and policies and past practices and the Municipal Government Act.”
Massey said he has served with a number of other volunteer organizations throughout his life and ended up as chairperson a number of times, so it’s not his first time at the helm.
“We seem to have a lot of flexibility at council about our discussions. I was used to a more rigid system of debate,” he said.
Though his job title has changed somewhat, he indicated his goals remain basically the same.
“I think our major issue is still our roads system.
“The second major issue for me is to run our council in a very businesslike fashion when it comes to expenditures and investments for today and the future.”
Div. 3 councillor Jim Wiese, who was elected to his second term in the Oct. 21 municipal election, was also selected as deputy reeve.
Coun. Ron Zadunayski also presented a motion during the meeting to limit the term of a deputy reeve to one year — it passed unanimously.
