Election results are in at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce, as eight new full-term directors and one one-year director have been chosen.
Mail-in ballots were sent to over 365 member businesses with the closing date for ballots to be returned set for Dec. 31. Eleven candidates were on the ballot running for two-year terms a, and the top eight vote-getters were elected following the vote tabulation last week.
The winners are: Malcolm Anderson of Gold Eagle Lodge, Kelly Atcheynum of Gold Eagle Casino, individual member Heath Gabruch, Randy Graham of Innovation Credit Union, Toni Montanaro of Brio Boutique, Megan Porten of Bank of Montreal, Dave Taylor of McDonalds and individual member Bill Volk.
All three of the sitting incumbents who ran again - Gabruch, Taylor and Volk - were re-elected. The rest of the winners are new to the board.
Another of the candidates, Brendon Boothman, was asked to fill the one-year term as a result of the director resignation accepted in December of Michael Silvester. Silvester resigned due to work commitments, according to Chamber Executive Director Linda Machniak.
Boothman was not able to secure a two-year term as one of the top eight, but was next in line according to the Chamber bylaws to fill the one-year position on the board.
Not successful in the election were candidates Verena Haskins of Aaron's and Warren Williams of Bralin Technology Solutions. Machniak anticipates they will be invited to become involved in some of the Chamber's committees.
Machniak said 32 per cent of the ballots were filled out and returned. The election fills about one-half of the positions of the current board of directors, with the other elected directors having served the first year of their two-year terms.
The December election filled several open positions on the current board with several incumbents not running again. Four of the directors who are leaving the board after the current term include some familiar names in the business community: Derek Schmidt, Alain Grosjean, Dwayne Onofriechuck and Kelley Bahrey.
The fifth director who did not seek re-election was Bill Halewich, but he will continue on as the town of Battleford's appointed representative.
Machniak said it was fairly unusual to see so many open positions in the election.
"We haven't had that happen for many years," said Machniak, but added a number of the directors who were leaving had been on the board for a long time. "You see that happen - people have their three terms or four terms, and then step back."
The directors will be sworn in at the Chamber's meeting Jan. 18, and will be able to participate at the annual general meeting held that night. On that night, outgoing Chamber president Leah Milton will formally hand over the gavel to new president Scott Campbell.
A date has been set for the Chamber of Commerce's 105th Annual President's Banquet, which will see the swearing-in of Campbell and the other new officials. The event will take place Jan. 20 at Alex Dillabough Centre in Battleford. Heath Gabruch will act as the MC. The guest speaker at the event will be Sanj Singh, director with the W. Brett Wilson Centre for Entrepreneurial Excellence, who will speak on entrepreneurship in Saskatchewan.
The reception begins at 6 p.m. with the main program commencing at 6:45 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Chamber office at 445-6226 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The deadline for tickets is Friday, Jan. 14.
