Voters in Castlegar and district will have choices this October.
As of press time, with just a few days to go before nominations close, there’s certain to be races for both mayor and council.
For voters in surrounding rural areas, however, it’s not looking as exciting.
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Full slate for Castlegar
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In Castlegar, incumbent four-term mayor Lawrence Chernoff will be taking on Deb McIntosh for the top municipal job. McIntosh has been on council for 16 years.
For council, at least eight people have thrown their hat into the ring for the six council positions.
People who have declared their candidacy include Nicole Hergert, Bergen Price, Brian Smitheram, Cherryl MacLeod, Janna Sylvest, and Gord Lamont, Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff, and Florio Vassilakakis. Only the last two names are incumbents. Sylvest and MacLeod ran in a 2016 byelection that Arry Dhillon won.
UPDATE: As of Thursday afternoon incumbent Dan Rye, Tyler Maddocks and Maria McFaddin have also entered the race.
There may be more candidates coming before the nomination deadline Friday. To be a qualified candidate, at least two people must sign your nomination forms.
The election is on Saturday, Oct. 20.
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RDCK races a sleeper so far
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But Castlegar — and other municipal governments — aren’t the only ones holding elections.
The province is also holding elections for regional districts and school boards.
So far, no races are shaping up in the rural areas surrounding Castlegar. The RDCK incumbents in Area I — Andy Davidoff, Area J — Rick Smith, and Area H — Walter Popoff, were not facing any opposition at press time.
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School matters
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School District 20 has three seats for local voters to fill — two from the city of Castlegar proper (Area 2) and one from the surrounding rural area (Area 1). Board chair Teri Ferworn says she’ll be running again, likely in Area 1.
There are two current vacancies for Area 2. Long-time board member Mickey Kinakin has been on medical leave and says he’s not running again, after sitting on the board for more than 30 years. Rosann Brunton resigned from the board earlier this year to take a job with the school district.
One person has filed nomination papers at press time to run in Area 2. Catherine Zaitsoff has been an active member of the parent advisory committee and other school organizations for several years.
For the final nomination list for all three levels of government, visit castlegarnews.com shortly after nominations close Friday at 4 p.m.