When nominations for Mayoral candidates were about to close, it seemed no one new had stepped up to the plate.
Now, just days later – there’s still only one candidate, but it’s not who we thought it would be.
Former Mayor Russ Arnot has been forced to drop from the running due to health issues, a choice he didn’t want to make.
“I’ve had a great run these past four years (11 altogether as councillor) and cherished every moment serving you but life has very recently thrown me a curve ball that I did not see coming…I hate goodbyes but there’s not much else to say…Thank you for the wonderful opportunity you gave me,” he said in a posting on Facebook.
This short-notice decision to drop from the running was brought to the attention sitting city councillor. She quickly filed her nomination papers and stepped up to fill the empty seat.
“It was my intention to run for council,” said Nicole Minions told the Comox Valley Record. “It was basically a quick pivot decision to decide to run for mayor. I had communications with (Arnott) prior to filing papers and then I waited for him to announce that he was not running, because I was not going to run against him.”
She stated that although she’s excited for the change of position, the sombre circumstances surrounding it are not what she hoped for.
“It’s different. People were kind of expecting celebrations [at the Mayors’ Cup Golf Tournament], but it was a bit heavy, with having our mayor not run for health reasons… It didn’t have a celebratory feel about it.”
Minions will be sworn in as Mayor on Oct 15th, and we’re looking forward to seeing what she does for our city.
Although we won’t be voting for Mayor this year, there are still plenty of choices to make with city council.
There are 11 candidates running for the 6 council seats, and we’ll be giving you all the details on that later this week.
