Abe Quiring was elected mayor of Osler by acclamation on April 9 and as a result there will be no voting for the by-election which was scheduled for May 12.
The mayoral position became vacant on March 12 of this year when Charlotte Goertzen resigned from the post due to personal reasons. Since then Councillor Susan Braun has been interim mayor and she will hold that title until Quiring is sworn in, which will be on April 14.
Quiring said he was surprised that he was the only one to put his name in for the by-election but he is happy to be mayor once again.
“It’s very exciting to be back at the table and to represent the Town of Osler,” he said.
Quiring’s previous term as mayor was from 2016 to 2020. He also served two terms as a town councillor prior to being mayor.
Even though a lot of work goes into an election campaign, Quiring was ready for it and would have accepted the challenge if there were other nominees.
“You want people to vote for the best candidate that is out there, but on the other hand when no body else is running against you, then (that means ) you have the confidence of the town,” he said.
Since Quiring has had recent experience on town council, only been outgoing mayor for less then half a year, he knows what to expect. But, there still will be a learning curve.
“It’ll take a little bit of time just to get up to speed and to figure out what’s all been going on and what decisions have been made in the past four months, but I think it’ll be a good transition,” he said.
After not reclaiming the mayoral position in the November 2020 municipal election he said that it was tough loss, only losing by seven votes, and it took time to get over that defeat.
However, when the opportunity presented itself and the mayoral position became available, he said he didn’t have to think about it for too long and that it was an easy decision for him to put is name back in the race.
“I felt like I still had a lot to give for the Town Osler and as soon as I heard that there was a possibility of a by-election, I was ready to represent the town again,” said Quiring.
Overall, Quiring is ready for the challenges that come with being mayor and he is excited to work with town council and be a main advocate for the Town of Osler.