Springfield voters toss incumbents
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This article was published 03/11/2022 (924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Only one of four incumbents in the mayor and council race managed to hang on to their seat in the RM of Springfield during last week’s provincial election.
The Association of Manitoba Municipalities reported that 45 percent of elected officials are newly elected, down from 48 percent in 2018. In Springfield, that number is 80 percent.
Councillor Glen Fuhl edged out his competition, Vince Bennici 719-604 to become the lone council veteran.
Patrick Therrien beat out incumbent mayor Tiffany Fell and Edwin Giesbrecht with 3,305 votes compared to Fell’s 1,506 and Giesbrecht’s 510.
In other wards incumbent Howard Bredin fell to challenger Andy Kuczynski, and incumbent Valerie Ralke was beat by Melinda Warren.
Ward 3 featured two newcomers with Mark Miller beating Les Tripp for the win.
Therrien, a former RCMP officer who campaigned on offering open and approachable government said while he was nervous on election day, he also had some confidence after knocking on close to 1,900 doors.
“I had a really good feeling,” he said.
Therrien pledged to take a close look at the municipality’s stance on the silica sand development, look into the role of the Springfield Police and whether it duplicates a service already offered by the RCMP, and add crosswalks to Oakbank and Dugald.
With the first council meeting set to take place on Wednesday, after press time, he admits there will be a learning curve.
“I just want to have a very common sense, logic, type of governance where everybody’s heard,” he said.
He’s excited about working with the new councillors, and said it’s great to have a three term councillor such as Glen Fuhl on board as well.
“It’s nice to have that experience,” he said.
Springfield does reflect one other provincial average, in that 20 percent of elected officials are women.
That’s the same proportion of women elected overall as it was in 2018.