The people of Irricana have spoken, and Debbie Day has been elected to the Town’s council through a byelection held Aug. 16. The first-time councillor will be sworn in at the next council meeting, Sept. 4.
With 78 votes to her name, Day won by a margin of 14 – Mavis Hallman finished second with 64, and Peter Dunn in third with 13 votes. A total of 171 votes were cast, according to Ted Coffey, the Town’s chief administrative officer (CAO) – in comparison, he said, the general election in 2017, which elected five councillors, had 189 votes.
“I would like to thank everybody that did vote for me,” Day said. “And those that didn’t, I hope to prove to you that I’m worthy of your vote next time.”
She said her focal point, moving forward, are issues she heard while campaigning door-to-door, including taxes, water and new businesses. She added she thinks the door-to-door communication was central to her win.
According to Coffey, “everybody is just stoked” about the appointment. Day is close with everyone in town, he said, including him – she lives just four houses down.
“She listens more than she talks, and that’s a rare quality,” Coffey said.
She’s able to consider and see different viewpoints, he added, which he said is also rare. While he said Day faces the uphill battle of every new councillor – learning the position’s roles and responsibilities under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) – Coffey said he expects good things from Day.
The new-girl moniker won’t hold her back, Day added, as she said she has already formed close relationships will most of the sitting councillors.
With the byelection taken care of, Coffey said he looks forward to continuing the improvements made by the Town and council – like a recently-streamlined development permit process for new businesses.
But their biggest goal still remains, he said: “Dropping taxes, dropping taxes, dropping taxes. In that order.”
Day admitted she has a learning experience ahead of her, but said she has confidence that her friends in council will help her adjust to the new role. Moving forward, she said she wants communication to be key.
“Hopefully, more people will come to the council meetings, because it would be nice to hear their opinions and see them there,” she said. “I think it’s a really good town council that works well together, and will [continue to] work well together. I think we’d like to see what we can do for [Irricana], but they have to let us know, too, what they would like to see done.”
She said she’s excited and interested to see how she can help, and is waiting for the job to really begin Sept. 4.
“I look forward to hopefully making this town more vibrant, and more alive,” Day said. “I don’t want it to sound like the town is dying or dead, but I would like to see more businesses and a better tax base – something we can do to bring in more business and keep the business here, so that people would love to stay here and become a part of Irricana.”
