Blair Ireland After 17 years, Lake Country has a new mayor. Two-term councilor Blair Ireland has been named the district’s mayor after his only mayoral challenger withdrew from the election last week. Longtime Lake Country Mayor James Baker, who has been mayor since 2005, chose not to run for re-election this year, and Ireland and Barry Rhodes initially ran. Rhodes finished a close second to Baker in the mayoral race four years ago. But Ireland says Rhodes called him on Thursday afternoon to inform him he was pulling out of the fight for “personal reasons”. “We had quite a conversation and I committed to having a meeting with him when I got back,” Ireland said. “He was a real gentleman about it.” Having served as a Lake Country councilor for the past eight years, Ireland is the second most experienced candidate running in the district this year, behind longtime councilor Bill Scarrow. Ireland says one of the district’s big issues over the next four years is making sure there are enough designers on staff to handle the number of projects that will be completed. It also prioritizes the district’s communication with the public. “I’m just trying to be more customer service oriented … trying to communicate better, trying to help the department function better, try to get the public to understand what the real challenges are,” Ireland said. “Just try to build a better community.” He also noted that the region will have to deal with future environmental impacts of climate change. “Mitigation efforts, greening the community a little more, working with developers … why don’t we try to work together better to create a greener community?” Ireland said. The Irishman recently returned from the conference of the Association of Municipalities of BC. in Whistler, where he and a couple of colleagues spoke to provincial ministers about the pressing issues facing the Lake Country. “We need financial help, if we’re going to get any affordable housing, we need the province to come to the table with us,” Ireland said. He also noted safety concerns about the intersection of Crystal Waters Road and Highway 97, calling it “scary.” “We’ve been talking a lot for a week now … we’ve been pretty successful I think,” Ireland said. According to the CBC, another 37 mayoral candidates across BC automatically won the mayoral position in their communities. In Lake Country, incumbent Cara Reed has also been recognized as Ward Councilor for Carr’s Landing, while incumbent Todd McKenzie has been recognized as Ward Councilor for Oyama. Incumbent Lake Country School Trustee Amy Geistlinger also ran unopposed. This leaves Michael Lewis, Bib Patel and incumbent Bill Scarrow to battle it out for the two Councilors at Large seats. Tricia Brett and Riley Hastings are vying for the One Ward Councilor seat for Okanagan Centre, Ireland’s former role, while Heather Irvine and incumbent Jeremy Kozub are vying for the lone Ward Councilor seat for Winfield. Municipal elections are held on October 15.
