Moher, Moeller, and Johnson elected as Trustees

Derek Kilbourn

Sounder News

Diana Moher, John Moeller, and Erik Johnson have been elected to be Trustees for the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District for three year terms.

This comes as as the result of the largest election held in the GFPID history, with 882 ballots cast on April 19, 2023.

The two voting booths were open at Noon. Wait times to vote were reported to be anywhere from 30min to 80min through the day.

Anyone in the voting line at 7pm – when the board had published it would close voting – were moved  from outside the firehall into the truck bays, the doors were then shut, and voting completed. The individual results were:

Diana Moher: 568

John Moeller: 527

Erik Johnson: 520

Sean Lewis: 358

Robert Rooks: 307

Douglas Haines: 301

Moher is entering her second full term as Trustee. Moeller enters his third term as a Trustee. This will be Johnson’s first term.

The rest of the Board is made up of Fred Apstein and Chris Windess (who have one year left in their terms); with James Arends and Paul Giffin, who have two years left in their terms.

After the Annual General Meeting – also held on April 19 – the Board held a regular meeting and elected Paul Giffin to return as Board Chair.

The turnout for the Board far exceeded anything seen before in a Fire Board election. In the April 2019 General Election, 230 people voted. Nominations were taken from the floor. There were no advance nominations or advance voting.

In July 2019 there was a by-election for a single Trustee position. 104 ballots were cast, and Diana Moher was elected.

In July of 2019, the Supreme Court of BC declared the April 2019 election void, and required a new election be held in 2019.

That new election was held on September 25, 2019. 179 ballots were cast. This was the final year nominations were taken from floor. Paul Giffin and Penelope Bahr were elected.

There was no election in 2020, as only three candidates names put their names forward. Sean Lewis, John Moeller, and Diana Moher were acclaimed.

In 2021, 134 persons voted. Fred Apstein and Chris Windess were elected.

In 2022, there were 268 ballots cast, then the highest ever. Paul Giffin and James Arends were elected.

In 2012, when Gabriola property owners voted in a referendum on the construction of the new Fire Hall #1, 1,267 ballots were cast, with advance voting provided.

In the 2022 Local Government Election, 1,406 ballots were cast for the Gabriola Local Trust Committee.

The next meeting of the Fire Board will be held at 4pm on May 3 at the Albert Reed Memorial Fire Hall.