As the dust is finally settled from the recent municipal election, this week has been all about welcoming councillors and mayors new and old, as well as appointing members to various boards and commissions.

At Ponoka County this morning, councillors decided to once again elect Paul McLauchlin as Reeve.

He says with 4 out of the 5 councillors acclaimed, they can keep their momentum going.

“A lot of is just actually maintaining what’s good about Ponoka County. We’ve got one of the lowest taxes in the province, low debt, and we keep providing a high level of service. Small government, and I think we are proud of that, and that’s how we do business and we will continue to do that.”

He says he looks forward to getting the chance to work more with neighbouring municipalities.

“Just trying to keep things going, I mean the oil and gas downturn affected us of course, and I think that we have nothing as far as long term capital plans, our biggest thing is going to be these collaboration agreements between the other municipalities. So Rimbey and Ponoka we have to start doing those discussions over the next two years, and we will see how that goes.”

McLauchlin was one of the councillors who were acclaimed, along with Bryce Liddle, Mark Matejka, and Doug Weir.

Nancy Hartford is the new face on council, defeating incumbent Jason Valstar by almost 200 votes.