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Oliver councillor resigns after 17 years

Jack Bennest will resign at the end of September as city councillor for the Town of Oliver
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Mayor Ron Hovanes with Oliver City Council (left to right): Rick Machial, Larry Schwartzenberger, Maureen Doerr, Petra Ventimilla, Andre Miller, Jack Bennest. Image credit: http://www.oliver.ca/council

After nearly 17 years of service, Jack Bennest has resigned as city councillor for the Town of Oliver.

Mayor Ron Hovanes read Bennest’s resignation letter at Monday night’ council meeting.

“Please accept this brief letter — my resignation as a member of Town Council effective September 30th,” reads Bennest’s letter.

“It has been a good run of almost 17 years - time to recentre as age is taking its toll.

“If I were asked — why are you resigning I would put it simply — the fun seems to be gone out of local politics.”

After reading the letter, Hovanes thanked Bennest for his work stating, “we accept Councillor Bennest’s resignation and we sincerely thank him for 17 years of service to the community and the Town of Oliver. He has helped Oliver grow in many positive directions and we honestly appreciate the service he has given to our community.

“His knowledge over the last 17 years has been a great asset as decisions were made around this table.”

His resignation does not come cheap for tax payers as a by-election will now be necessary to fill the vacant position.

“We had a by-election in 2013 so we took a look at those actual amounts and adjusted for CPI (consumer price index/inflation) and with that we are estimating it will be just over $11,000,” said Oliver corporate officer Diane Vaykovich.

The Town of Oliver will bring a report forward to the Special Open Meeting of Sept. 18, 2017 to appoint the Chief Election Officer.