Mayor and council acclaimed in Gibbons

Gibbons Mayor Bill Nimmo, shown here in a photo taken during gibbons 2010 Canada Day Celebrations, was acclaimed as Gibbons mayor Sept. 20. It will be Nimmo's 10th term on Gibbons Town Council.

By Stephen Dafoe

Gibbons – Once again this election cycle, Gibbons voters will have to find something else to do on Election Day other than vote. Monday’s nomination deadline passed with just enough nomination papers filed to fill the seven seats on Gibbons Town Council.

Returning for his tenth term on council is Mayor Bill Nimmo, who was first elected as a councillor in 1983. The long-time politician served one term as councillor before taking the mayor’s chair. He has gone unopposed in his bid to be Mayor of Gibbons in the past seven elections.

“There’s a fair amount of satisfaction in working your way through (at times) a slow-moving system and achieving some things,” the 71-year-old mayor said of his desire to keep involved in municipal politics. “I’m just a pretty ordinary guy and I kind of always felt good that us ordinary people can achieve some things.”

Nimmo said he’s never been one to be fancy and always been someone who enjoys working hard. Nimmo said that throughout his political career he’s never been afraid to fail because a fear of failure often results in an inability to try something.

The mayor said after 27 years in municipal politics he still enjoys the people he comes in contact with as mayor of Gibbons and said he felt there were a lot of good people doing municipal work.

Nimmo is joined by incumbent councillors Doug Horner, Bart Wyatt, Ed Parsons and George Fraser. Councillors Lanny Boutin and Nikki Smyth did not seek re-election. Joining the incumbents at the council table is James Rollison, who has served Gibbons Town Council for two terms in the past, and newcomer Norm Sandahl, vice president of the Alberta-N.W.T. Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The mayor said he was a little disappointed that none of Gibbons’ women put their names forward to run for council, although he had anticipated that a couple were considering it.

“I guess you take what you get, and I think the people that are there will be good councillors,” Nimmo said, noting that the all-male council will seek a female point of view from outside council chambers.

“I’ve always enjoyed the councils that have had female members on it,” Nimmo said. “I’m well aware that there are some different points of view that come up from female members and I’ve always actually enjoyed and appreciated it. We’ve got a lot of women out there that are citizens of the town and we don’t want to miss something there.”
Nimmo said he is looking forward to working with the returning councillors, both incumbent and former, as well as newcomer Norm Sandahl.

“Jim Rollison has been on council before – two terms, and Norm Sandahl, I know him reasonably well,” Nimmo said. “He’s been quite active in the Royal Canadian Legion for several years as a volunteer and in the provincial and territorial level.”

Nimmo said because council was acclaimed they will likely hold their organizational meeting prior to the Oct. 18 election, probably during the first week of October.

The returning mayor said the early meeting will allow for the selection of a deputy mayor, allowing Nimmo to take a holiday to St. George, Utah, where he will be playing baseball in the World Senior Games.

“That’s my one pleasure in life, playing ball,” Nimmo said, adding he plays in a senior men’s league in St. Albert during the summer. “It’s kept me in pretty good shape.”

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