By Bryan Eneas

City Council shake-up: Five new faces represent the people of P.A.

Oct 28, 2016 | 6:26 AM

While Greg Dionne may have retained his seat in Prince Albert’s municipal election, five of his councillors weren’t so lucky.

“I like (having new people). That’s a challenge, we’re going to have a different atmosphere on council, different opinions. It’ll be interesting,” Dionne said.

Tim Scharkowski, former ward five councillor said it was tough watching the results come in.

“With the reaction I was getting door knocking, it was a bit of a different story. I won’t say I was totally shocked, I know Dennis worked very hard at his campaign,” Scharkowski said. “He did a good job; he did a great job.”

Scharkowski said he will be taking time to focus on growing his businesses both inside and outside Prince Albert.

Riderville

Riders Have Options Heading into Tuesday CFL Draft

1h ago

Weekend hockey

PAGC set to host largest Senator's Cup tournament to date

1h ago

VAISAKHI MELA

Hundreds flocking to P.A. for Vaisakhi Mela celebration

2h ago

He had a few words of wisdom to pass along to Dennis Ogrodnick, the man taking over his seat in city council.

“There’s a lot of information. Stick to your game plan, and don’t be centered around one, or a few items. Make sure you’re rounded, and considering the whole city, not just our community,” Scharkowski said. “As a councillor for the ward, you are representing the whole city as a whole.”

Scharkowski said he enjoyed his time serving Ward 5.

Ogrodnick said he will work hard to give his constituents a voice in city hall.

“First and foremost I believe in representative democracy and so I am going to represent the ward,” Ogrodnick said. “I really, strongly will work with all councillors, the mayor and all city admin, but my job is to make sure the residents of Ward 5 are heard at city hall.”

Ogrodnick said he was relieved the campaign trail was over.

“I felt that it went quite well,” Ogrodnick said. “I’m glad it’s over. I knocked on all the doors and listened to what residents were talking about, and generated a platform based on community meetings that were held over the last year.”

Ogrodnick said he will be working to address his constituents’ many needs.

Evert Botha, now of Ward 3, is another new face on Prince Albert’s city council. He won his seat over incumbent Lee Atkinson by the smallest margin in the 2016 election; only 45 votes.

“I knew I was going to be in for a tight race,” Botha said. “I have the world of respect for Lee Atkinson. He has served this community and the city for I guess 20 years.”

Botha said there were a few moments of doubt in last night’s photo finish.

“Around 8:30 last night when the initial polls came out and I was still trailing, (but) my gut said to me I’ve got it, and that was confirmed when the results were released,” Botha said. “I’m very, very encouraged, very humbled, very honoured for the members of the community of Ward 3 to have put their faith in me.”

Botha said he’s got big shoes to fill. He said he hopes to sit down with Atkinson and discuss the transition of the councillor seat.

Botha said he hopes to build a better sense of community within P.A.

“The single biggest frustration for a lot of constituents, myself included, was the lack of communication and the knee-jerk reactions to any issues that may have transpired,” Botha said. “I wanna make sure we are proactively engaging the community, and I’d certainly like the community to stay in contact.”

Botha hopes to instill a sense of pride within the residents of Prince Albert.

“It’s a great community, if we could just start becoming more proud of Prince Albert and stop kicking it and stop dissing it and stop being negative. We have a lot of work to do in terms of changing people’s perception about our community,” Botha said.

–With files from Shane O’Neill

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Bryaneneas