Monday, October 17, 2022

Back to the Future for Prince Rupert ... Herb Pond reclaims the Mayor's job after a fourteen year hiatus

The 2022 Civic Election delivered some rather familiar themes for the most part on Saturday evening, with Herb Pond, the former Mayor who last tended to the city's business in 2008 now back in the Mayor's chair claiming 51.5 per cent of the Mayoral vote.

Mr. Pond who ran a campaign of looking to continue forward with the Hays 2.0 and Rupert 2030 vision planning, successfully knocked down the challenge of educator Chrystopher Thompson who was his next closest competitor claiming 30 percent of the vote.

Jason Hoang and Stephen Fitzpatrick rounded out the vote tallies.


Upon his return to the Mayoralty, Mr, Pond  shared a few comments through his Social Media feed on Sunday morning.



In among the comments to his victory notes, came greetings and congratulations from members of the community, as well as some past ghosts of the Mayor elect's previous term of office from earlier this century.

Sharing his own salute to the new team at City Hall was soon to be departing Mayor Lee Brain who offered up his congratulations shortly after the vote was confirmed at 10 PM on Saturday.


Outgoing Councillor Mirau also provided his own look at the Saturday results through his social media stream.


As Mr. Pond heads back to City Hall, the everything old is new again Mayor, will find a few things different, as he takes up his duties. 

First up the Job comes with an extra year for the mandate, having switched from three to four year terms in  2014, a change from when Mr Pond first served the people.

Beyond the length of term there's some renovated offices in the Third Avenue West City Hall facility to explore, as well as a significant top up to the pay package from his previous terms of office.

Mr. Pond may also find a few familiar long serving faces  from his previous times around the office and with  the city's various departments. 

As well, the new job makes for a reunion will take place as the New/Former Mayor settles in. 

That comes with a chance to catch up on things with Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller, who previously worked with Mr. Pond during the heady days of LNG development in the region, Ms. Miller now in place as part of Senior City Staff.

Both worked for BG Gas and their Prince Rupert LNG project which cancelled their ambitious plans for Ridley Island in the first quarter of 2017, one of the first of many LNG proposals that faded from view over the last five years. 

And as he looks to move forward with outgoing Mayor Lee Brain's blueprint to the future,  Pond will find five of the six council members that were there along the way through the vision process. 

While Councillor Blair Mirau is preparing to bid his farewells to elected office next Monday, all of the five other incumbents made the cut on election evening and they are ready to move the plans forward. 

As is the one newcomer to join them, with Teri Forster set to take office, breaking the hold of the Male's in place since 2018 down at the Third Avenue West Boy's Club

She too campaigned frequently on her wish to be part of the team to move the Rupert 2030 vision forward.


The majority of those finding success on Saturday shared their comments through their Social media, with Councillor Nick Adey, Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven and Councillor elect, Terri Forster all making note of the night's events.

Councillors Niesh and Randhawa have yet to provide for their commentary on their success.

For Councillor Barry Cunningham, the success of Saturday which saw him claim the largest volume of the votes, was noted through a Social Media message that observed how this upcoming term will be his Final term of office.


To this point only a pair of the unsuccessful candidates, Chrystopher Thompson and Sheila-Gordon Payne have offered their thanks to the voters and best wishes to those set to take a place in the Council Chamber.



For the five incumbents, one more session of the old gang is coming that set for Monday, October 24th.

The new collective take to their work with the November 7th Council Session. Followed by two more sessions to the end of 2022 as they prepare for the year ahead.

More notes on the Election period can be reviewed here.

To keep up on Council Discussion themes through the year, check our archive page here.

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