Langford mayor-elect Scott Goodmanson was still reeling from the Saturday night results when the wheels got turning.
Amid the cheering of family and friends sitting around the propane fire at his parent’s house near Langford Lake, Goodmanson’s phone rang with a call from Darren Kiedyk, Langford’s chief administrative officer.
“He called me like three minutes after I won. He called to say, ‘Hi, it’s me, this is my number – we are ready for you guys, we just want you to know that there’s someone here.’ And I thought that was pretty cool.”
In a result that shocked many, Goodmanson beat long-serving Langford Mayor Stew Young in Saturday’s municipal election, winning with 53.1 per cent of the vote (4,483 votes to Young’s 3,796.)
Goodmanson heads into city hall for the first time this week “as not just a resident” to meet senior city staff and get the lay of the land and is then headed to seminars run by the Town of Esquimalt for new council members to help them get up to speed with the intricacies of municipal politics.
New Langford council members are scheduled to hold their first meeting on Nov. 7.
Goodmanson said he still has to meet with the newly elected councillors, but said his priorities going in are to move council meetings back to 7 p.m. to allow more people to attend meetings, develop a code of conduct and direct staff to develop a tree protection bylaw.
Goodmanson will be joined on council by Langford Now slate members Kimberley Guiry, Colby Harder, Mark Morley, Mary Wagner and Keith Yacucha. Lillian Szpak, who ran as an independent, was the only incumbent to keep her seat.
Goodmanson said he hasn’t yet spoken with Young, who was voted out after 29 years as mayor and nearly 30 years on council.
“He did do a lot. He should be congratulated on that. But I’ve said all along, he and council built the foundation that we get to build and grow on. But just because you formed a foundation doesn’t mean you’re a finish carpenter or electrician or a drywaller. You need a new plan, you need new people in there to be able to do all that’s coming.”
READ MORE: Stew Young loses, Langford Now sweeps election
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bailey.moreton@goldstreamgazette.com
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