Hansma Eyes Return As Spallumcheen Mayor

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 30 September 2014 16:14

The race for mayor in Spallumcheen has added a high profile participant. Will Hansma, who served as the township's mayor for 13 years over five terms, is looking to get back into the top chair in November, saying he's been urged to run by residents. "I'm quite concerned about different things. The economic development level in the township, I've never seen it so low, both in the residential and industrial sector, so obviously that isn't being tackled correctly," says Hansma who retired as mayor prior to the 2011 election. Hansma is also upset at how council imposed extra taxes on the farming community, and at the lack of cooperation to get grants from the province and Ottawa. "For the 13 and a half years I was mayor, on average, I brought in 15 million dollars per year in infrastructure improvements into the township, and virtually nothing has happened over the last three years," he tells Kiss FM. Hansma, who runs the Okanagan Advertiser newspaper, will be up against one term mayor Janice Brown and former councillor Dave Brew.