By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

New Lethbridge County Council sworn in

Oct 23, 2017 | 11:39 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The newly-elected Lethbridge County Council was sworn in this morning (Oct. 23) in the small Council Chambers packed to the brim.

Three new faces joined the returning incumbents. Tory Campbell is the new councillor in Division 2 after he defeated Michael Willms last week. In Division 3, Bob Horvath is the new man on councillor and the final newcomer in Division 6 is councillor Klass Vander Veen.

Division 1 councillor Lorne Hickey, Division 4 councillor Ken Benson, Division 5 councillor Steve Campbell and Division 7 councillor Morris Zeinstra round things out around the council table.

Hickey is also the only returning Reeve on council, and says this is all old hat for him.

“This will be my seventh term, so I’ve been here for 19 years and I’m looking forward to the next four more,” Hickey said.

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With three new councillors, it will take some time for things to get sorted out but Hickey says new faces around the table is a good thing.

“Change is always encouraging, we’ve listened to the people and there’s going to be some issues brought forward. It’s going to take a little while for the new councillors to get used to their new duties and responsibilities,” he continued. “I can remember when I was first elected, and it does take some time to get into the rhythm of things. There’s so many things you have to be aware of nowadays, especially with the provincial government and federal government, as well as changing legislation all the time.”

Hickey says Lethbridge County has a number of issues that need to be dealt with once everyone gets up to speed.

One of the immediate ones is dealing with funding.

“I think one of the biggest things we’re facing is how are we going to deal with the funding that’s coming from the provincial and federal government. I think that both governments have kind of reached the limit as to how they fund things. But it’s all the same money anyways, it’s all tax dollars. So we have to be cognizant of that, and I think we have to really recognize how and what we spend money on from here on out.”

At the Organizational Meeting that followed the Swearing-In Ceremony, Hickey was selected to serve as Reeve for another four years, while Ken Benson was selected to serve as Deputy Reeve.