In the Town of Preeceville Mayor Garth Harris of Preeceville is being opposed by newcomer Ralph Ager for the Mayor position in the upcoming election on November 9.
Mayor Harris has in office for 14 years and previously was a councillor for three years prior to being elected in 2006 as mayor.
"I am very passionate about the town and the growth and health of our community. I ran again for the mayor position as I would like to see the completion of some of the projects I started with the major one being the quality and viability of our water system," Harris said.
Ralph Ager was previously a Town of Preeceville councilor for 13 years and built up his leadership skills through his many years’ experience on council. "There is a fairly young council and employees that would benefit from my experience. I could help them develop better leadership skills to help better grow the Town. The success of the community is built on volunteers and people getting involved in the community. My wife and family have lived in Preeceville for 27 years and I am very dedicated to the Town's success," said Ager.
In the RM of Preeceville Rick Pristie, incumbent reeve, is being opposed by Johnny Petryshyn in the election.
Petryshyn, originally grew up in Sturgis, lived in the community of Preeceville for the past 20 years and was involved on town council for the last 12 years, until moving to the RM of Preeceville. While he lived in Southend he held the mayor position for two years.
Petryshyn was active in minor hockey where he coached at a junior level and volunteered with many different organizations while a member of town council.
"Moving to the RM inspired me to run for Reeve as I have had a strong interest in municipal politics for some time,” said Petryshyn. “If elected I would like to see the RM prosper and become more resilient with fairness for all business and ratepayers in the RM, and ensure a good working relationship with our neighbouring RM's, Towns and Villages. Also very important is to see that our agricultural producers have well maintained roads all year which ensures the safety of our children traveling to school. Roads can provide speedy ambulance care if needed in an emergency. I believe rural Saskatchewan provides the strength to our province. In the end and most important I want to be able to represent our rural businesses and families with a voice that can be heard by all levels of government," concluded Petryshyn.
Reeve Rick Pristie has been reeve for the RM of Preeceville for numerous years and currently owns a local business. He was unable to offer any other comment.
Don Olson was elected by acclamation as the Mayor of Sturgis. He will be taking his oath to office at the first town council meeting held after the election.
Olson was a councilor for the Town of Sturgis from 1991 to 1997 prior to being elected in 1997 as mayor. He resigned as mayor four years ago when Alan Holmberg took over for the four-year term and has now returned as the mayor.
"I decided to return as mayor because I really miss the people and seeing that projects get completed to be able to grow the town," said Olson. "Projects help build, stimulate and offer stability and viability to ensure the growth of our community. Building projects attract people who want to live in Sturgis. Developing recreation walking paths helps build on that. The more we can offer people, the more the community will attract new community members," he said.
Olson grew up in Sturgis but moved around with his job with Ducks Unlimited. When the opportunity to work on the Quill Lakes project came he and his family jumped at that opportunity and he was able to move back to the homestead in Sturgis which his grandparents owned and look after his aging mother.
