Walt Cobb has won another term as mayor of Williams Lake. He garnered 60.4 per cent of the vote with 1,843 ballots cast, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC. This will be Cobb’s fourth term as mayor; he served two terms from 1990 to 1996 before being reelected in 2014.
In the council race, incumbents Ivan Bonnell, Scott Nelson, Craig Smith and Jason Ryll have all won another term. School board trustee Sheila Boehm and first-time candidate Marnie Brenner have won the final two seats.
Below is the full list of the candidates for mayor and council.
Candidates
Mayor:
Walt Cobb (incumbent)
Surinderpal Rathor
Council:
Sheila Boehm
Ivan N. Bonnell (incumbent)
Marnie Brenner
Jodie Capling
Tom Hoffman
Dave Moore
Scott Nelson (incumbent)
Jason Ryll (incumbent)
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Craig Smith (incumbent)
Natasha Wiebe
Boundary
Williams Lake is a city in B.C.’s central interior, about 240 kilometres south of Prince George on Highway 97.
Population (2016)
10,753
History
The first people in the Williams Lake-area were the Secwempec — or northern Shuswap — First Nations people. The Carrier First Nations people also have traditional territory to the north and west of the community, and the Tsilhqot’in people along the west side of the nearby Fraser River.
Williams Lake began as a European settlement in 1860 during the Cariboo Gold Rush, with the arrival of Gold Commissioner Philip Henry Nind and Const. William Pinchbeck to form a local government. The site was chosen due to its place on two intersecting pack trails to the gold fields.
The community was named after Secwepmec Chief William.
However, Williams Lake was bypassed during the construction of the Cariboo Road, which passed through 150 Mile House instead.
It wasn’t until the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (later BC Rail and now CN Rail) in 1919 that the city would see significant development. That same year, the popular Williams Lake Stampede was established.
A decade later, in 1929, the town was formally incorporated.
The area’s economy originally focused on agriculture and ranching, however in the 20th century, the forestry industry grew to take precedence.
In 2017, the entire city was placed under an evacuation order due to nearby wildfires — forcing more than 10,000 people to leave their homes for nearly two weeks.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$109,084/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP — municipal/B.C.
212.62 (+1.17/93.63 (-0.71)
RCMP — rural/B.C.
28.29(-23.48)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (VCSI) — 2016
RCMP — municipal/B.C.
247.08 (+24.24/74.86 (-9.81)
RCMP — rural/B.C.
34.85 (-51.96)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Todd Doherty (Conservative)
Provincial
Donna Barnett (BC Liberal)
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