Polls across British Columbia have now closed. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., voters headed to the polls to choose a mayor, council and other leaders in local government.
Summerland voters elected a mayor, six municipal councillors and two trustees on the seven-member Okanagan Skaha School Board.
Polls were open in Summerland at the following locations until 8 p.m. PT:
Summerland Secondary School
9598 Main St., Summerland
Giant’s Head Elementary School
10503 Prairie Valley Rd, Summerland
Who is running for mayor?
The mayoral candidates in Summerland are Toni Boot and Janet Peake, both councillors in Summerland for the past four years.
Boot grew up in Summerland graduated from Summerland Secondary School. She instructed at Okanagan College inPe Penticton and Kelowna before joining two partners to found and operate Kettle Valley Dried Fruit.
In 2005, she founded Grasslands Nursery which she operated for 10 years before selling the business.
On council, she has served as council liaison to the Summerland Chamber of Commerce and the Water Advisory Committee.
She also serves as a director on the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen and is the chair of the Okanagan Similkameen Healthy Living Coalition, a non-profit serving the RDOS area.
Peake has served on Summerland’s council for the past four years, but prior to moving to the community, she spent 19 years on municipal council in the District of Muskoka, Township of Lake of Bays in Ontario. Her experience includes seven years as mayor, six hears as regional representative and six years as a local councillor.
On Summerland’s council, she has been a liaison to the Summerland Chamber of Commerce, the art council, the heritage commission and the Kettle Valley Steam Railway. She has also worked with the cultural plan task force and the Trail of the Okanagans committee.
Who is running for council?
There are nine candidates for six councillor positions in Summerland.
The candidates are Richard Barkwill, Erin Carlson, Claude Gautron, Doug Holmes, Ron Kubek, Doug Patan, Mark Smed, Erin Trainer and Martin Van Alphen.
Barkwill was born and raised in Summerland hand has lived here since 2000. He works as an auditor and lives on a small farm. He was elected to council in 2014.
Carlson was elected to council in 2014 when the land swap or urban growth plan was a key election issue.
Gautron, a retired teacher, has lived in Summerland for the past three years and has been to the community on a regular basis since 2007.
Holmes has lived in the community for 14 years. He is a tennis coach and the founding chair of the Summerland Refugee Sponsorship Group. He was an early advocate of the use of Internet technology in the public sector and the author of a book on the subject. He has also been a company director, newspaper editor, foreign correspondent and radio reporter. He was elected to council in 2014.
Kubek is retired after a career in real estate on Vancouver Island. He has lived in Summerland since 2016 when he bought a vineyard to go into business with his winemaker daughter and her husband. He has served on the Sidney town council from 1985 to 1990 and on the council in the District of Central Saanich from 2008 to 2011.
Paton lives in Summerland. He is the chief building official with the City of Kelowna. He has also been employed by the City of Edmonton as the chief mechanical inspector and with the City of Penticton as chief building official.
Smed operates a consulting and information technology company from his home in Summerland. He also works with several non-profit organizations.
Trainer is the co-owner of ET2media, a communications company. She also manages the Penticton Farmers’ Market and is the marketing coordinator at Summerland Credit Union. She lives in Trout Creek where she co-runs the Trout Creek Community Association. She has also helped to organize Bike to Work Week.
Van Alphen has lived in Summerland since 1988. He and his wife stared, owned and operated a collision repair business from 1991 to 2006 and now operate a diversified small farm. He served as a Summerland municipal councillor from 2011 to 2014.
Who is running for school board?
Four candidates are on the ballot for the two school trustee positions. They are Julie Planiden, Dave Stathers, Linda Van Alphen and Peter Waterman.
Planiden has served as a school trustee since 2014. She lived in Summerland since 2008 but has moved to Oliver to be closer to her job in the wine industry. On the school board, she is the vice chair had has served as the provincial council representative to the B.C. School Trustees Association for the past three years. She has also been involved in parent advisory councils and in school initiatives at Giant’s Head Elementary School and Summerland Secondary School.
Stathers, a retired teacher, taught history, law, civics and social studies at Summerland Secondary School for almost 30 years. Prior to becoming a teacher, he spent a decade as a journalist.
Van Alphen has been a trustee for the past 16 years and has served in numerous roles including three years as chair and three years as vice-chair. Locally, she has been a member of the Summerland Asset Development Initiative, Summerland Healthy Communities Initiative and the Summerland Skate Park Committee. She volunteers with the breakfast clubs at Giant’s Head Elementary School and Summerland Middle School and with the one-to-one reading program at Trout Creek Elementary School.
Waterman, a retired horticulturalist and fruit grower, has lived in the community for 42 years. He spent six years as a councillor and was the mayor of Summerland for the past four years.
RELATED: Who is running in Summerland’s election
For all of our stories on the municipal election, click here.
Check out our website and Facebook page for full coverage of the results starting at 8 p.m. PT.
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