April 20 will be election day for Glenmore Ellison Improvement District (GEID) voters to choose from four candidates running for two vacant seats on its board of trustees.
This by-election is a second attempt at an annual election originally held in April 2021, the results of which were challenged and overturned by a BC Supreme Court judge on Feb. 13.
Although the legal challenge to the election results was within two weeks of the 2021 election result, the legal process was drawn out over two years, leaving the initially elected trustees Horst Grams and Lee-Ann Tiede somewhat in limbo.
Both Grams and Tiede, who is the chair of the Central Okanagan Board of Education, are running again for the two trustee seats along with new candidates Harman Bahniwal and Taylor Sebastian.
Bob Hrasko, a candidate in the 2021 election who subsequently legally challenged the results, said he thought it best not to run again after the court ruling.
Hrasko said while several issues were brought up in the court case about the validity of the vote count, in the end the judge cited a legal issue that the GEID holding its annual election a month prior to its annual general meeting that year, in an effort to accommodate provincial COVID protocols at the time, was a violation of the irrigation district鈥檚 letters patent.
That letters patent has since been amended to allow an AGM and election at any time during the calendar year.
The GEID serves 23,000 residents and more than 2,000 acres of farmland.
Hrasko, who is general manager of the Black Mountain Irrigation District, lives in Ellison where he operates a five-acre dairy and chicken farm.
He ran as a candidate for the GEID board regarding issues with the way farmers are billed for water and how the water utility was run.
An advance poll was held on April 12 and election voting day is Thursday, April 20, the polls open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the GEID district office, 445 Glenmore Rd.
Mail ballots are available on request. Call 250-763-6506 and apply by giving your name and address to the returning officer.
The GEID serves 23,000 residents and more than 2,000 acres of farmland.
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