Lippert retains mayor’s chair

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: November 15, 2008

Wayne Lippert is back in the mayor’s chair, but he admits that voters have sent him a wake-up call. Lippert topped the polls Saturday, capturing 2,728 votes, followed by Juliette Cunningham at 2,363, Rick Thorburn at 825, Tony Stamboulieh at 787, Steve Campbell at 538 and Floyd Edwards at 148 ballots. “I’m happy I won. I wish the margin was larger but I made it. The contract has been renewed,” said Lippert. Touching on the tight race between him and Cunningham, Lippert admits not all Vernonites are happy with him.“I will have to work harder to make sure those who didn’t vote for me are included,” he said. But Lippert still sees his victory as an endorsement of the path he has taken the city since being first elected in 2005.“I’m looking forward to building on what we started and to move forward,” he said, adding that as of Monday, he will start meeting with his members of council to start working on plans for the new term which begins Dec. 1. Lippert credits his election win to a lot of hard work over the last few weeks. “I really want to thank my family and my campaign team. And I also want to thank the residents of Vernon for placing their trust in me again,” he said.

Cunningham, who was a first-term councillor, was disappointed with the election results. “I thought I had a good chance. The indication was I had good support,” she said. “I can’t predict how people voted the way they did. When that many people are running (for mayor), there will be vote splitting.” Cunningham believes the election results should lead to a change in direction at city hall. “It wasn’t a landslide and I hope Mayor Lippert realizes there is not total support for his leadership. Hopefully that will benefit all of us as a community,” she said. Thorburn’s entire goal in pursuing the mayor’s chair was to promote consolidation of Areas B and C with Vernon, and he says there is public interest in that happening. “I hope council looks at it seriously in terms of things to do,” said Thorburn, an architect.This was the first time Campbell had sought elected office. “The feedback I was getting at forums was I did well, but perhaps the Enderby issue was too big for people to look beyond,” he said, referring to his owning property in Enderby but spending most of his day in Vernon as a realtor.Stamboulieh and Edwards could not be reached for comment by press time.

Six councillors were elected Saturday and leading the polls was veteran incumbent Patrick Nicol with 4,286 votes. “There’s lots of good work to do and I’m excited to move forward. There’s a group (council) that will get down to work quite quickly,” said Nicol, who is entering his eighth term. Second was incumbent Buffy Baumbrough with 3,976 votes, followed by former school trustee Mary-Jo O’Keefe at 3,886, incumbent Jack Gilroy at 3,449, retired brokerage manager Bob Spiers at 3,153 and dentist Shawn Lee at 3,122.

Not elected were Brian Quiring (3,071), Steven DeBella (2,922), Eric Kowalski (2,864), Doug MacAulay (1,475), Gordon Thomas (1,156), Ray Carling (862) and Peter Greening (729). Voter turnout in Vernon was about 26 per cent Saturday.