A big thumbs up: Candle Lake's new mayor-elect Terry Kostyna and his fellow councillors say the electorate wanted a team that would offer better communication and a positive approach (Facebook/Terry Kostyna)

By Glenn Hicks

a new approach on the lake

New Candle Lake council seeks better communication and positivity

Aug 31, 2020 | 4:00 PM

After a political term that was largely dominated by bickering, as well legal and personality conflict, the voters in the increasingly popular Resort Village of Candle Lake have overwhelmingly voted for change.

Following Saturday’s election that saw heavy defeats for all the incumbents who ran again, the new line-up of mayor and four councillors sees its mandate as one that will focus on a better and more modern approach to communications with the public and a more positive collective way of operating.

We just have to catch up with the 2020s _{– Candle Lake mayor-elect Terry Kostyna}

“I believe the village will be doing a better job of communicating what the issues are,” Mayor-elect Terry Kostyna told paNOW following his resounding 1,226 to 261 win over incumbent Mayor Borden Wasyluk.

“Communication around Candle Lake should be proactive rather than reactive as it has typically been in the past. It’s a small town that becomes one of Saskatchewan’s mid-sized cities on the summer weekends. We just have to catch up with the 2020s,” he said.

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Kostyna said while there needs to be more research on the actual numbers, the population is believed to swell from the 860 full-time residents to between 10,000 and 12,000 at busy times.

Kostyna — who served 14 years on Martensville council — said he got his campaign messaging out as early as May. He travelled around the lake talking to as many people and gatherings as he could given the COVID-19 challenges and says the public wants to hear about positive things.

The need for consensus

Candle Lake was regularly in the news for very public spats. Councillor Ron Cherkewich was mired in a bitter conflict with Wasyluk and the village’s administration, sometimes over matters of procedure, and that led to court proceedings.

But Kostyna, who acknowledged he had “watched the Candle Lake governance over the past years and I know the many challenges” was taking the high road Monday when asked if the voters had railed against the personal conflicts.

“What’s behind us is really not important,” he said. “I understand that and I see that; I’m here. I was pretty frustrated because things don’t get accomplished when people can’t agree. At some point you have to reach consensus. Everybody needs to be pulling the wagon in the same direction.”

Kostyna added getting policies and procedures ironed out would be a priority for the new council, because “some are there and some are not; some contradict each other.

“We have lots of parks and green space here and a lake to protect… we need to make sure everybody is on the same page and understands what our policies are.”

Joe Barczai is one of the four new councillors-elect and came top of the polls. He said voters told him they want change and a council that is focused on working together “and doing good things for the community.”

He noted a couple of key issues in the village that for him need some attention.

“Particularly for a resort village is the whole issue of ATVs and golf cart [use]. That has moved to the forefront. And the other ones will be things like our building bylaws, I think that needs some work,” he said.

As the new political leaderships gets set to be sworn in the coming days another of the new councillors who received a large chunk of the vote, Debbie Hunter, said the new faces around the table would help compared to the previous council.

“To put it nicely I think there was a lot of personality conflict there so things didn’t get done… a lot of bickering back and forth,” she said. “Our goal is to get positive media for Candle Lake. When you’re bickering, a lot of positive things don’t get done.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow