Acton throws his hat in the ring for Lumby mayor’s job

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: June 02, 2009

The race for Lumby mayor is officially underway. Coun. Kevin Acton has announced he will seek the village’s top job during an Aug. 15 byelection. “We have a really good direction as a council and I want to continue with that,” he said. “The team there has provided direction and vision.” The position of mayor became available when Eric Foster resigned after being elected Vernon-Monashee MLA in May. Acton is a massage therapist who has lived in Lumby for 15 years and has been on council since November. He doesn’t believe his short time in local politics precludes him from running for mayor. “I have sat on quite a few boards before and I’ve been dealing with clubs. I also have experience running businesses,” he said. Acton says a number of issues in Lumby are important to him.“We’re pushing to get seniors housing and to revitalize downtown,” he said.“A road to Silver Star is also a passion of mine.”

To run for mayor, Acton must resign his seat as councillor by June 15. That means there will be both a byelection for mayor and councillor Aug. 15. The nomination period is from June 30 to July 10. However, a byelection would be avoided if only one person each ran for mayor and councillor. They would be acclaimed to office. With Foster gone and Acton resigning, that leaves only three of the five-person council still in place. Three is a legal quorum for a meeting, and challenges could ensue if one of them is absent. “If there is a council meeting scheduled and we didn’t have a quorum, the meeting would be cancelled,” said Frank Kosa, chief administrative officer. But real difficulties would surface if one of the three remaining councillors also decided to run for mayor and resigned their seat. That would only leave two council members, less than is required for a quorum. However, that doesn’t appear likely as Councillors Lori Mindnich, Tracy Williamson and Ben Winters have all stated they won’t seek the mayor’s job during the byelection.