It appears that voters in Langley City and Langley Township will have many candidates to choose from in the Nov. 19 municipal election.
As of Thursday afternoon, just 24 hours before the close of nominations, a total of 24 candidates had filed for a councillor's seat on Langley Township council. Three others are running for mayor — incumbent Rick Green, incumbent councillor Mel Kositsky and Jack Froese.
The remaining 22 are running for council and have already filed nomination papers. Two others have informed The Times that they plan to run, but had not yet filed nomination papers.
Candidates who have filed thus far are incumbents Bev Dornan, Steve Ferguson, Charlie Fox, Bob Long and Grant Ward. Murray Jones, Sonya Paterson and Dan Sheel, all of whom ran in the 2008 election, are running again. The Vote Langley Now slate, which is running with Green, has seven candidates running — Tyler deBoer, Tony Malyk, Dorothy McKim, Ben Penner, Carla Robin, Dave Stark and Glen Tomblin.
Others seeking one of the eight councillors' seats are Bert Chen, Wayne Crossen, Rebecca Darnell, David Davis, Rick Manuel, Carey Poitras, Terry Sheldon and Michelle Sparrow.
Misty vanPopta has told The Times she plans to run, but had not yet filed their nomination papers. Paterson has yet to file as well.
There are at least 10 people seeking the five Township seats on the Langley Board of Education. They include incumbent trustees Wendy Johnson and Rod Ross, who have filed. Incumbents Alison McVeigh and Cecelia Reekie have told The Times they are running again, but had not yet filed papers. Also running is Kirsten Schaffer-Charlesworth, who ran in 2008 in the City, and Brian Leonard, who ran in the January byelection. Pamala Combs. Megan Dykeman, Kari Medos and Douglas Smuland are also running.
In Langley City, Mayor Peter Fassbender is the only candidate who has filed for mayor thus far. Eleven people have filed for the six councillor seats. All six incumbents are among them — Jack Arnold, Dave Hall, Teri James, Gayle Martin, Rudy Storteboom and Rosemary Wallace.
Challenging them are former councillor Ted Schaffer, Darrell Krell, who ran in 2008, Paul Albrecht, Randy Caine and Catfish Potesta.
Three candidates have filed for the two seats on the Board of Education — incumbents Stacey Cody and Rob McFarlane, and newcomer Candy Ashdown.