Morson, McCrosson-Tovell may see another election

Morson and McCrosson-Tovell councils were both acclaimed but they may only reign for six months if voters go to the polls next June to elect a council for the Township of Lake of the Woods.
If it gets approval from the Municipal Affairs and Housing minister Al Leach, the new township–which incorporates the two townships and some of the unincorporated territory–would come into being Jan. 1.
Then another election is slated June 8, which will see two seats for each ward: McCrosson-Tovell, Morson, and the unincorporated areas.
The mayor (changed from reeve) of the new township would be elected at large, cutting the number of councillors for each community in half.
The two existing councils (composed of five members from both McCrosson-Tovell and Morson) would combine and make up an interim council until the June election.
“They wanted to give the [unincorporated residents] an opportunity to vote,” said Pat Giles, clerk and returning officer for both townships, on why the communities would hold another election.
As of yesterday at 5 p.m., Reeve Valerie Pizey, along with incumbent Couns. Alfred Gate, Leonard Larsen, Bill Lundgren and Adrienne Olson, will make up McCrosson-Tovell council.
In Morson, the four councillors also are in by acclamation–incumbents Colleen Fadden, Dorothy Gate, and Joann Moen and newcomer Ken Pentney.
But the reeve’s position on the new Morson council is still vacant.
If no one came forward for the vacant reeve’s slot in Morson, though, Giles didn’t know if councillors would try and fill it. That would depend on if the restructuring proposal was approved.
“Under the proposal, it says that the interim council would sit as of Jan. 1,” he explained, with a head of that council appointed by members on both councils.
If that were the case, he assumed Reeve Pizey would be appointed to that interim position if no one else came forward for the job of reeve in Morson.