Okotoks residents will have two public school trustees after the October municipal election.
Education Minister David Eggen approved the Foothills School Division’s request for two trustees for Ward 4 (Okotoks), John Bailey, the division’s superintendent announced at trustees public meeting on April 26 in High River.
Okotoks residents will tick off two names for the pair of Okotoks positions at the municipal election on Oct. 16.
The two trustees will share duties in Okotoks, there will not be a North Okotoks, South Okotoks scenario for example. They will have one vote each, the same as the other four trustees.
The move will mean there will be six trustees on the division board. In the event of a 3-3 tie, a motion will be considered defeated.
The division has had one trustee in Okotoks since provincial realignment of school divisions in 1995. However, since then the population of Okotoks has exploded in comparison to the other wards.
At an open house in February, Brian Callaghan of the Alberta School Board Association said the provincial government wishes to get ward representation to be plus or minus 25 per cent of the average population in a division.
Using the 2015 census, the average is 13,752 people for Foothills School Division wards. Using the 25 per cent rule, wards should have a population between 10,314 and 17,190. Okotoks is at 28,016.
If a second Okotoks trustee were added, the average among the six wards would fall to 11,461 people. The two Okotoks trustees would have an average of 14,008, just falling under the 25 per cent maximum (14,236).
At present, Okotoks is without a trustee as Lori Copland stepped down to take a personal leave in October.
The four other trustees have shared her duties. They are, chairwoman Christine Pretty (Millarville/Priddis/Red Deer Lake); Doug Gardner, (High River); Jeannine Tucker (Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Longview) and Michael Pollard (Cayley, Blackie, Heritage Heights).
