Meet the new Spiritwood town council

[ASFN Admin]

With only the incumbent mayor and six names to fill six councillor seats, the Town of Spiritwood will not see a civic election this year. Here is what Mayor Gary von Holwede, the five returning members of Spiritwood council and the single newcomer had to say about going to the council table. Being a part of town council for many years – too many for him to count on his fingers and toes – Gary von Holwede said it has always been an evolutionary process. Nothing stands still, he said, and the council will continue making improvements to the town for another term. “You fix something this week, next week something else needs to be fixed. There's an opportunity this week to make something better. And next week, there's another opportunity.” We’re all prisoners of our own experience, he said, so having a diverse group of voices on council is important to making sure issues and concerns are seen and addressed. While there is much more left to do and a lot of fun things going on in the community, von Holwede said, he needs one more term at least to put a succession plan in place for the mayor’s seat. Having a good team in place as makes staying on for four more years that much easier, he said. “If you don't have good support staff or team players, that drags you down and that maybe leads to a premature evacuation retirement.” One goal for von Holwede for the coming term is to continue to build relationships with the provincial and federal governments and the continued battle against aging infrastructure. Following a second call for election candidates to fill the vacancy left by former councillor Debbie Allan, 25-year-old Kiera Andres will join the council table in Spiritwood. Her age will be an asset to the council, she said, as she will bring a new perspective to the table. More people her age should get involved in council, she said, so they know what’s going on behind the scenes. Sidewalks are an important issue that Andres wants to bring up in the next council term. Even around some high traffic areas there are no sidewalks, she said. “I live right across from the high school, and there's no sidewalks here at all.” Through Andres’ previous work for Spiritwood Area Recreation, Culture, and Sports she learned a lot of what is happening in the town, she said, while her former daycare showed her a lot in terms of business management. Andres has lived in Spiritwood all her life and she now works at the credit union. When James Bedi originally ran for town council in Spiritwood, he was tired of hearing people complain without anyone stepping up to fix the problem or offer solutions. Small communities run on people who volunteer to make their community better, he said, and he wanted to do that as a member of the town council. This past term was a big one for Spiritwood’s aging water and sewer system with a new water treatment plant and upgrades to their lagoon, Bedi said. The work will continue as work is being down to upgrade the lift station as well. Work is also being done to identify breaks in lines throughout the town through a camera system down into the lines. The amount of water going into the lagoon was higher than what was being put out by the water treatment plant, Bedi said, so there were obviously problems that needed to be identified. Bedi said he is proud of the work council has done to address these issues. With COVID putting a damper on town revenues, especially at the recreation facility, the council will have to find ways to maximize their revenue streams while keeping within COVID guidelines. Bedi said they will continue to focus on recreation, health care, and education within their community. “If you don't have that in a small community, you don't have anything and you don't survive.” Bedi has been at the table for 14 years. Councillor Shannon Beaulac is proud to remain on council for a second term. Being in her late 30s, Beaulac said she wants to see more young people get involved in council. You learn a lot as a councillor, she said, and she is excited for all the new information she will gain from her second council term. Having another opportunity to work with such a great group at the council table as well as the town staff is something else that Beaulac is looking forward to. Beaulac moved to Spiritwood to finish high school and never left, she said, getting married to her Spiritwood husband and raising her family there. Beaulac works as an educational assistant at Hartley Clark Elementary School in Spiritwood. Councillor George Pretli still enjoys working for the town and from his seat at the council table, he has a good vantage point of everything going on and the different problems the town is facing. “I've always been community-minded, so I figured it’s the only thing I can do to pay back the town for everything it’s offered us.” While the previous term didn’t produce any earth-shattering changes or improvements, Pretli said, there were a few issues that the town was able to address and receive much needed funding. “We take a look at where our costs have to go and we try to appropriate them in the proper places.” Unfortunately, like many towns in the province, Spiritwood does have a lot of projects on the go for their infrastructure upkeep. Pretli hopes this term will see adequate funding for these projects, and that council is able to keep things running smoothly and answer all the questions that the townspeople have. This will be the second term for Councillor Bradley Nemish. Being at the council table for only one term, one gets used to how everything operates and how things work, he said. The second term is where someone can get down to business and get things done. “Sometimes you get that second term and you kind of just have a better idea of how things run in a town, and I just think I have a little bit more knowledge base and stuff to share now.” Nemish has been a high school teacher and coach at the Spiritwood High School for the past 14 years, president of the Spiritwood Curling Club, and a member of the Spiritwood and Area Recreation Culture and Sport organization. Getting to know the community and the residents as a town councillor has been a big highlight of the last term, he said, especially when people take the time to get to know how the community operates and functions. “Once you sit down and you realize how things actually operate and how things run, then you kind of have a better idea of how our town operates.” Keeping the community strong and vibrant is going to be a key goal for Nemish going into the second term. Keeping the recreation facility utilized properly is something that Nemish wants to focus on as well. Councillor Bryan Wingerter will also be back at the council table for the next term. He wants to keep serving the community and keep trying to make Spiritwood a great place to live, he said. Wingerter is on the road a lot, he said, and keeps his eyes open to what other communities are doing across the province to see what he can bring back to Spiritwood. “I like to see a clean town, stuff like flowers in the spring and make it as nice a living place as we can with the tax base we have.” There is a lot that needs to get done in Spiritwood, he said, which can be difficult with limited funding. You can only work with what you have budgeted but Wingerter said they have started being proactive and have started putting stuff away for projects. There are three things that council constantly needs to address, Wingerter said, and that is water, sewer, and roads. Besides that, Wingerter said they have started a four-year plan to do sidewalks and beautification a quadrant of the city at a time. Wingerter said they will also be looking into economic development opportunities around the town. While they were not able to celebrate the new park and bandstand that was erected in a vacant lot this past year due to COVID-19, the council will be focusing on getting more events into the community and supporting their second-to-none recreation facility in the coming year.Becky Zimmer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Battlefords Regional News-Optimist

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