Belknap wins councillor seat in Glendon by-election

Roger Belknap wins the vacant councillor seat after winning the by-election Tuesday with 44 votes. Image supplied. 

The unofficial results are in from the Glendon by-election and Roger Belknap has won the seat.

Belknap earned 44 votes in the by-election, edging out Edward Kryzanowski with 36 votes and Randy Harrop with 14 votes.

The position became vacant when councillor Scott Lundgren passed away in June.

“It is brand new territory,” said Belknap on winning the election.

“The members that are on council now are really forward-thinking and seem to be a group that I really want to work with.”

Belknap, owner of local business Terra Logic, has never been in politics before but decided to get involved to improve the village.

“I just kind of wanted to reach out and help the community…It’s a nice little town. It’s got some potential that I see. My two kids are going to be there with my wife, we’re going to be there for a long time. I want them to have the best place possible to grow up.”

Belknap will be sworn-in to his new role during his first council meeting on Sept. 23.

He wants to tackle economic issues facing the community while promoting Glendon as a place to live and raise a family.

“There have been some issues with some businesses going out of town…I’d like to try to see what I can do to help reverse that trend,” he said.

“The same with the population as well, try to find out what it is as making people want to leave.

Belknap has lived in Glendon for six-and-a-half years after moving to the Village for work. He understands the impact the economy has had on residents and businesses leaving.

“Work dried up for me too…but nothing materialized of it. We [his family] just made a decision. We’re like, you know what, we’re just going to stick it out,” he said.

“If there’s any way we can kind of bubble ourselves from the outside economy and try to help grow our own in our own economy internally. That’ll help hedge things when the oil prices drop again.”

Belknap joins Mayor Laura Papirny and Nicholas Werstiuk on Glendon council.

“It’s gonna be a huge learning curve. The first meeting is on the 23rd…there’s definitely going to be lots to learn.”