Quesnel, BC – In thwarting incumbent Mary Sjostrom’s bid for a third term, Mayor elect Bob Simpson says he’s thankful Quesnel voters made a clear decision at the polls…

Preliminary results from yesterday’s municipal election have the former area MLA sweeping into the mayor’s office with 2128 votes compared to just 884 ballots cast for the outgoing Sjostrom.“It should leave no doubt in anybody’s mind that the people of Quesnel want a different kind of leadership in the mayor’s office,” says Simpson.  “And now I have the responsibility of working with, predominantly, an incumbent council to put a new vision together for the community.  But I’m hoping that council members understand that the mayor’s vote signals a clear change in direction is required.”

Five of the six councillors elected yesterday are incumbents, with the sixth being former councillor Ron Paull, who ran unsuccessfully against Sjostrom in the 2011 municipal election.  Simpson says he met with all the incumbents and candidates in the run up to the election and he’s hopeful the newly elected council can come together quickly and effectively to forge that ‘something different’ demanded by the voters.

First up will be strategic planning sessions to determine next year’s budget for the City of Quesnel.  And Simpson is planning to go over the numbers with a fine-tooth comb.  “What I would like to do, as an outsider coming in, is to work with council to question every line item.”

“And my fundamental principle will be: ‘Are we delivering – through that line item in that budget – quality services to today’s Quesnel residents?’ Not yesterday’s, but today’s residents,” says the Mayor elect.  “We need to look at how the city is structured and how we’re staffed and make sure we’re delivering quality services to taxpayers for every one of their dollars that they give to us.”

With what he calls a ‘catastrophic’ reduction in the annual allowable cut looming in the next year to 18-months, Simpson says he’ll begin working immediately with the Chief Forester, industry stakeholders, and the provincial government to put a plan in place to prepare for what’s to come and “to make sure that people understand we’re going to keep our industry going for as long as we can.”