Former chief throws hat in the fire

Wayne Moore - CASTANET  Sep 15, 2011 / 6:00 am
He was at the forefront of Kelowna's battle against the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, now, Gerry Zimmermann has entered a new battle. Zimmermann, Kelowna's fire chief during the devestating 2003 fires, is running for a seat on Kelowna City Council.  He made the long anticipated announcement Wednesday. "As fire chief of the Kelowna Fire Department for 15 years and 19 years before that as one of the firefighter team here in Kelowna I was always amazed at the spirit that our community has and that when the situation called for everyone to come together, they did so without hesitation and without any bias," says Zimmerlann. "We need to see this enthusiasm when it comes to the future of Kelowna. I'm looking forward to being a part of that enthusiasm and am excited about being a part of council."

As for why he's running, Zimmermann says he believes the community has to regain confidence in its elected municipal officials.  "Right now, I don't think that exists," says Zimmermann.  "There's a whole bunch of reasons for that. I think things are studied a little bit too long and not enough action is taken." Zimmermann's announcement comes just days after Walter Gray made his run for mayor official. Despite rumours of a slate including Zimmermann, Gray and other high profile candidates, he says he won't be joining any groups and won't be making any deals with anyone. What he will be is part of a large group seeking eight council seats.  As of Wednesday, 43 people have either picked up nomination papers or indicated they will be running for a seat on council while nine have done so for mayor.