Wikkerink voted in for fourth year as reeve

Steve Wikkerink

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

The County of Forty Mile council held its organizational meeting on Oct. 28 and voted Steve Wikkerink in as reeve for the fourth consecutive year.
“It means a lot,” said Wikkerink.
“Like I said to council at the organizational meeting after I was voted in, that I very much appreciated working with our entire council. Our council has a great relationship together. We work very well together. I said ‘I hope I represent you well when I’m out in public.’ I thank them for the vote of confidence to have me in there for another year.”
Wikkerink has experienced some learning curves along the way.
“It (has) been another learning curve. But working with the council and working with our CAO (chief administrative officer) Keith Bodin, it’s been really good,” he said.
“You have to be on your toes when running council meetings. I’ve run meetings before but this was at a higher level, there were learning curves on how to run meetings. You have to be able to listen to your entire council and gather their thoughts together, and try to come up with a bit of average of what everybody is saying.”
Wikkerink feels the new administration building project will be an accomplishment.
“I think with the new administration building going to the next step, along with the expansion of the county shop, I hope that will be an accomplishment that we as council can hang our hats on,” he said.
“(And) it was a good time to move ahead and do that type of expansion at this time and we’re working hard on making sure that we’re doing this for the next 50, 60 years. The building we’re in now, it’s 60-years-old, since we’ve been in it. We’re trying to do the same on the next go is that we do it carefully and wisely.”
The plan is to brainstorm in the coming weeks to see what council wants to work on in the next year.

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