Sawchuk looks forward to the Challenge

“It’s very humbling,” Greg Sawchuk says of being elected Reeve for the Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville. “With the voter turnout and the issues that we’re having at the MD, that came to the forefront, people are interested.” Reeve-elect, Sawchuk says he was happy to the amount of people that came to the polls and the amount of people he was able to visit & speak to about important issues on the campaign trail. “It brought a lot of things to light and a lot of things to work on.”

The new Reeve-elect says he most looking forward to the challenge, “it’s definitely going to be a challenge. I’m looking at this as a full-time job. I look forward to getting around and seeing all the folks, in all four corners of the MD. Really diving into the issues and creating a whole new level of communication with the people.”

Sawchuk says he is looking forward to the first Council meeting, scheduled for next Wednesday at 9:30 am. “The group that we have is a nice mix. We have Councillor Krywiak and Councillor Swigart back. With their experience they’ll help guide the ship. The new blood are really eager to bring forth their ideas, as well.” The group had their first orientation meeting this week and will have their organizational meeting prior to the Council meeting. Sawchuk expects the agenda to be fairly light at the first meeting.

Along with Councillors Krywiak (Ward 3) and Swigart (Ward 5), elected has been Marc Jubinville (Ward 1), Darcy Skarsen (Ward 2), Ed Duchesne (Ward 4), and Ben Fadeyiw (Ward 6).

As for ongoing projects, Sawchuk says the new Council will try to make the transition as seamless as possible, “we have to have some sort of continuity that the previous Council had. Projects that were started then, those will continue on and be finished. You can’t stop something abruptly like that.” Going forward, the new Council will start budget deliberations shortly, “some of that might change what’s happening in the new year.”

Sawchuk sends out a thank you to his family, “we went pretty hard. I spent a lot of time away from them, as far as the campaign went.” Without their support Sawchuk wouldn’t be at the head of the table, as MD Reeve. He also would like to thank “half a dozen or so people”, who helped him along the campaign trail and adds, “they know who they are”.