Ross Forrest wants another shot at being mayor of Lake Cowichan.
Forrest served three terms as mayor of the community, but was defeated by Rod Peters in his attempt to hold the position for a fourth consecutive term in the municipal elections in 2018.
But, just two years after those elections, Forrest has filed his nomination papers to run in the byelection on Oct. 24 to replace Peters, who resigned for personal reasons in July.
So far, former long-time town councillor Bob Day is the only other candidate to sign nomination papers before the deadline on Sept. 18.
“I was mayor for 10 years and I have never had it in my DNA to quit something,” he said.
“Deep down, I’ve really enjoyed those 10 years as mayor and I think that if I didn’t take this chance to run again, I’d regret it.”
But while Forrest acknowledges that he’s thrilled by the opportunity, he doesn’t like the circumstances of Peters having to resign for personal, family reasons.
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He said in his two years out of office, he has had the chance to observe and follow council from a different lens than sitting at the council table.
“A lot of the comments I’ve heard from the community during the past two years is that this is now 2020, and council has been lax in getting information out to the public even during this age of fast communications,” Forrest said.
“We need to look at things differently, and operate more in real time.”
Under Forrest’s leadership for 10 years, council had brought a columbarium to the community, finally brought the long-awaited Centennial Park ball fields to fruition and moved forward the Town’s beautification process, including a new welcome sign and aesthetic changes to the Town’s entrance.
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