Oster out, Geigle back in as reeve

By Tim Kalinowski
Cypress County councillors held their annual election for the office of Reeve on Friday, and council chose to go with experience as they elected former  Reeve Darcy Geigle to the office. Geigle serves as councillor for Ward 2 Irvine/ Walsh, and spent 5 years as Reeve until losing the election for that position among councillors in 2013.
Geigle takes over for Coun. Richard Oster who will continue to represent Ward 7, Seven Persons North/ Desert Blume on council.
Geigle said on Monday that he was pleased to be returning to the reeve position after spending the last two years on the sidelines.
“I had a couple years off, and I have some new ideas,” said Geigle. “There has been a lot of changes at the county in the last couple of years, and I think councillors felt a little experience could help. We have went through two new CAOs in the last two years. We have new staff coming in, and there is a lot of uncertainty out there with all the changes that have happened.”
Geigle thanked former Reeve Oster for his service in this challenging role.
“He tried to do the best he could,” said Geigle. “There is a lot to this job, more than just running the meetings. I don’t know what the final vote was, but with a challenging year ahead councillors wanted some certainty and experience.”
Outgoing Reeve Richard Oster said on Monday he was honoured to have served the county in that capacity for the past year.
“I really enjoyed the challenges that came with that job and I had a lot of fun. Change is good and hopefully next year another councillor can experience the job,” said Oster.
With Geigle moving up to take over the Reeve’s job, long time Ward 4 councillor Garry Lentz becomes deputy reeve.