Calls for Scott Nelson to run for Williams Lake Mayor again!

In May of this year (2025) on YouTube -- a local Williams Lake resident lamented about public safety in Williams Lake and then went on to praise the work of Williams Lake City Councillor Scott Nelson 

View the YouTube video here

The Williams Lake resident then went on to call for Scott Nelson to consider running for Williams Lake Mayor in the October 17th, 2026 City of Williams Lake Local General Election. Councillor Nelson has previously served as Mayor of Williams Lake in the 2005-2008 term and ran for the same position in the November 2011 City of Williams Lake Local General Election but was not successful...

Those running for either Mayor of Williams Lake or for the six Williams Lake City Councillor seats in the October 17th, 2026 City of Williams Lake Local General Election will likely be making their intentions known by Summer 2026 (July - August 2026) .... 

Mayoral Candidates debate Tolko - Creekside Operations

This past Sunday, WL Mayoralty Candidate Walt Cobb spoke out on what he would do with regard to operations at Tolko - Creekside Division.  See his press release here

Meanwhile, yesterday, WL Mayoral Candidate Scott Nelson also revealed his plans for Tolko - Creekside.  See that here

Today, Kerry Cook responded to this by calling Mr. Nelson and Mr. Cobb's plans as "grandiose & empty campaign promises" - see that here

My own question to Kerry Cook would be:

If you've been working on this -- how about progress reports??  How does this community know that this issue has been a priority for you and your Council?  Because right now - it doesn't appear that way..

Ervin Charleyboy backs Scott Nelson for WL Mayor

Former TNG Tribal Chair and former Alexis Creek Band Chief Ervin Charleyboy says Scott Nelson should be the next Mayor of Williams Lake and explains why...

From Welcome to Williams Lake

BREAKING NEWS... Ervin Charleyboy endorses Scott Nelson for WL Mayor

From the Twitteruniverse: (Greg Fry - The Rush)

Former TNG (Chilcotin National Government) Tribal Chair Ervin Charleboy endorses Scott Nelson for mayor in Williams Lake.


With 9 days to General Voting Day - it will be interesting to see if First Nations' endorsements matter to the voters of Williams Lake or not...

When the full story on this comes out later today - I'll post it here..

Update (Wed Nov 9th at 5:53pm) - From The Rush:

Williams Lake mayoral candidate Scott Nelson has picked up a key endorsement from the First Nations community.

Irvin Charleyboy, former Chief of the Alexis Creek Band, explains why he’s endorsing Nelson: “I’ve known Scott for over 20 years and I know he can do the job and he’s more business minded and positive and he’s not scared to say what he thinks and he’s not scared to speak his mind towards positive things.”

Charleyboy also says the new prosperity mine deserves another look and says it could go a long ways towards putting young First Nations people to work.

He says too many young people are currently unemployed and as a consequence involved in crime out on the reserves and in Williams Lake.

2nd WL Mayoralty Forum

In a tightly packed room at the TRU Cafeteria at 7pm Monday - Williams Lake residents' came out for a final time to hear from Mayoralty Candidates Kerry Cook, Scott Nelson and Walt Cobb

After a 1 minute opening statement from each candidate - a question and answer period ensued including:

1) Do economic benefits supersede human and other social factors when it comes to resource development, like a mine?

2) How will you vote on renewing the Co-Gen Plant's Water Use Agreement in 2012, in addition to local industry usage of treated City water in their operations?

3) With regard to the City's new OCP/ICSP - how will you implement a livable/sustainable City?

4) How would you ensure sustainted or improved local government services, like the local pool?

5) How will you get local business to have more sustainable practices or even get "green businesses" to locate to Williams Lake?

6) Defend the responsibility of local government for the promotion of local food security?

7) Will you support or even expedite the transfer of Cariboo Lodge to a local seniors housing body?

Editor's Note - while Scott Nelson and Walt Cobb were supportive of this proposal, Kerry Cook suggested that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do so, given the terms of the contact that saw the City acquire Cariboo Lodge for $10 in early 2008, however Scott Nelson later rebutted saying that he would sub-lease Cariboo Lodge to the local seniors housing body for $1 for a 50 or 100 year lease

8) If elected - how would your platform address the needs of young professionals setting up their home in Williams Lake?

9) What role should the mountain biking sector play in City planning?

10) Will you work towards an arrangement with IHA (Interior Health) for bus services to Kelowna for those requiring cancer care?

11) How will you work with local First Nations?

12) What is your stance with regard to investment in the Arts sector

The forum then concluded at 8:33pm
Those in attendance included WL City Councillor candidates Steve Forseth, Paul Kandola, Mike Bouchard, Peter Bowman, Gord Keener, Tenessa Fairburn, Surinderpal Rathor, Laurie Walters, Sue Zacharias, CRD Area 'E' Director hopeful Stacy Wong and School District #27 Zone 5 Trustee hopeful Dr. Sheila Boehm


The next forum will be Monday, November 14th at 7:00pm in the TRU Gym for the 13 Williams Lake City Councillor Candidates (Tenessa Fairburn has already served notice that she is unable to attend)

1st Mayoral Forum - Williams Lake

This afternoon - before 68 people, Scott Nelson, Walt Cobb and current WL Mayor Kerry Cook outlined their platforms and what they would do for the City of Williams Lake as Mayor at a forum co-hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce/BC Northern Real Estate Board held at Beeotcheese's Restaurant from 11:30am - 1:30pm

Each candidate received 3 minutes for their opening statement and 5 minutes for their closing statements

Questions asked included:

* Overspending
* Economic Development
* Industrial Taxation and how to solve it?
* Municipal Auditor General
* How to have an open and transparent local government

All-in-all - a friendly debate but at the end, sparks clearly flew between Scott Nelson/Kerry Cook with their closing statements

The best line was delivered from Walt Cobb - "one mayor left the barn door open (Nelson) and the other let the horse out (Cook)" in reference to the Fire Hall Budget Overruns

Next forum for the Mayoralty Candidates - 7pm Monday at Thompson Rivers' University where I'm told that all 3 Mayoralty Candidates will be present (Cook, Cobb and Nelson) contrary to what was reported in today's WL Tribune


Update - Video from the forum today (courtesy of Williams Lake Tribune) - see here, here, here, here and here

Mayoral Debate on the Fluoride Referendum Question

Earlier today, Walt Cobb (WL Mayoral Candidate) said this on the Fluoride Referendum Question:

Walt Cobb is also critical of how fellow candidate Scott Nelson has handled the issue: “Well first of all, they’re (the city) suggesting through the referendum we’re already putting fluoride in the water which isn’t true. The second is the other candidate who is pointing fingers because he is saying the mayor should be doing something when in fact fluoride hasn’t been used since his term of office.”

The City hasn’t put fluoride in the water supply since 2005.

The referendum question will be put to residents when they vote in local elections November 19th. 

Cobb and Nelson are challenging incumbent Kerry Cook for the mayor’s chair.

Meanwhile - Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook (seeking re-election herself) says:

“There is certainly no intent to be misleading on this issue, we want people to be as informed as possible when they come out to vote on the issue November 19th.”

Cook also said the fluoride issue should have been handled years ago.

My take:

1) Ms. Cook, who's been here long enough, knows that this has been put to a vote a number of times including in the 2005 Election ( I remember voting no to continue putting fluoride in the City's water system but the community, as a whole, said to continue putting fluoride in)

2) Let's leave this issue as a "personal health issue" and not a political one, allow the community to decide, one by one, if it wants to continue or not.  But I suspect given the fact that the public is now informed that fluoride, in fact, has not been injected in the City's water since 2005 that they'll vote to kill it altogether

SBF

WL News - Thurs, Oct 20th edition

1) WL Councillor candidate Peter Bowman explains his reasons for running in next month's civic election - see here

2) WL Coun. Surinderpal Rathor questions why the recently adopted the 5 Yr 2012-2016 Financial Plan (Planning) Document had to include a potential tax increase of 2-3% in years 2012-2016 when that rate could have and should have been 0% over that same time period - see here

3) Mayoral candidate Scott Nelson thinks the city has misinformed the public on fluoridation - see here
4) Peter Epp says people should think twice before electing Scott Nelson for Mayor - see here

Scott Nelson: Tax Rollback of 0-0-0 over next 3 years

At last night's WL Council, Council adopted, with Councillor Rathor opposed, financial planning guidelines for the 2012-2015 5 Yr Financial Planning which calls, of all things, tax increases of 2-3% in 2012 to 2016 consecutively.  This would be that by 2016, resident will have been exposed to consecutive tax increases of 25% over 7 years, if full implemented.

Scott Nelson, Williams Lake Mayoralty Candidate, after the meeting, declared the following:

While profoundly disappointed at this Council's financial decision on the 2012-2016 5 Year Financial Plan Guidelines, I declare to the residents of Williams Lake that if I'm elected as Mayor on November 19th - the next Council will have a fiscal policy of a 0% tax increase for years 2012 to 2014 inclusive and it will be delivered on


Update - See Scott Nelson discussing this more on video here

WL Mayoralty Candidates duke it out over False Alarm Bylaw

Earlier today - Williams Lake Mayoralty Candidate Scott Nelson, on Welcome to Williams Lake, stated that if he was elected Mayor, he would repeal the alarm registration fee structure with regard to the False Alarm Bylaw and called it nothing more than a "fee tax-grab" - see more details here

For her part - current Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook defended the registration fees as follows (courtesy of the Rush):

The mayor of Williams Lake is encouraging city residents to register their alarms before October 30th.

Kerry Cook says 200 people have registered so far and says it's led to a 23% reduction in false alarms already. She also says a similar bylaw which passed in the central Okanagan led to a 60% drop in false alarms there.

The fee to register is $15 dollars for residential alarm systems and $20 dollars for commercial and other alarm systems.

After October 30th, an automatic $100 dollar fee will be charged for the RCMP or Fire Department to respond to a non registered alarm.

One Question:

1) If 200 people have registered and false alarms have dropped by 23% - why the continued need to impose a fee to register one's alarm system?

Again - people have said they don't object to registering their alarm system but do object to paying a fee to register.  This is a money grab by Williams Lake City Hall, notwithstanding the protests by WL Mayor Kerry Cook.  The best way to go is ditch the registration fee structure, require free registration and educate the public on how to reduce or completely eliminate false alarms

Campaign Ads - City of Williams Lake 2011 Election

Yesterday, I received a copy of The Stew Magazine for October and in it - it contained election ads for Kerry Cook, Scott Nelson and both City Councillors Laurie Walters and Sue Zacharias.  You can read it here

But for my readers' information, the campaign ads "slogans" are as follows:

Kerry Cook - Responsible Leadership - Now and in the Future
Scott Nelson - It's time for a positive change for a major focus on jobs, jobs and more jobs

Laurie Walters - Dedicated to Growing Arts, Culture and Heritage
Sue Zacharias - Family Advocate, Safer/Stronger Community, Innovative Industry Planning

Although not in this magazine - Walt Cobb also has campaign brochures out.  His campaign slogan is:

H.O.P.E. :

Honest
Open
Positive
Experience

To this point - none of the other candidates, including myself, have done any campaign advertising and I don't expect much, if any,of that until after the formal nomination period closes a week today at 4:00pm

Finally - The Stew magazine reports that for its' November issue - it'll be contacting all of the candidates for their views and let their readers' know what those views are.  Likely that issue will be out in late October

Economic Development #1 Priority under Mayor Nelson

This afternoon - Welcome to Williams Lake reports that, if elected, Scott Nelson will elevate the Economic Development Portfolio of Williams Lake City Council into the Mayor's office and make it the #1 Priority for the next Williams Lake City Council.  See that article here

Like Henry Van Soest in this past Thursday's Williams Lake Tribune - I too am beginning to be very troubled by this Council's grasp on the Economic Development front.  But here is the real question for the Mayor's Race in Williams Lake:

On Economic Development - does this community want to continue to support "Ms. Dithers" in Kerry Cook or elect "Mr. Action" in Scott Nelson?

SBF

Williams Lake News - Tuesday Sept 20th edition

Over at the Williams Lake Tribune:

* Scott Nelson and Kerry Cook clash over Cariboo Lodge contract - see here
* Steve Mazur (CRD Area 'E') and Rick Mumford (CRD Area 'K') explain their decisions not to seek re-election.  See here

For the record - the following CRD Directors' are seeking re-election, as of this morning

Area 'A' Director Ted Armstrong
Area 'C' Director John Massier
Area 'D' Director Deb Bischoff
Area 'F' Director Joan Sorley
Area 'G' Director Al Richmond
Area 'I' Director Jim Glassford
Area 'J' Director Alex Bracewell
Area 'L' Director Bruce Rattray

Only Area 'B' Director Roberta Faust and Area 'H' Director Art Dumaresq have not made their re-election plans known

There are no new election announcements to report from Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile or both School Districts #28 (Quesnel) and #27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin)

* Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett talks about the upcoming UBCM Convention in the last week of September - see here
* Brian Battison (Taseko VP - Corporate Affairs) says "fact based conversation" needed on new Prosperity  Gold-Copper Project - see here
* Robert Swears says if City of WL can adopt a bylaw to regulate shipping containers, how about one for barking dogs? - see here

Over at Williams Lake Independent Community Television or WLCTV, Rick Roy has posted his two latest pieces of work:

a) "Art Walk" Wrap-UP Event - view here
b) Interviews with Independent Cariboo-North MLA Bob Simpson & City of WL Mayor Kerry Cook - view here

Finally - WL City Councillor Laurie Walters, via Twitter, asks:


Would like to know your thoughts on Williams Lake having an off leash Dog Park and if you like the idea where would it be?

Good question... - if you want to contact her with your own thoughts, her Twitter account is @CITYCOUNSELLOR, find her on Facebook or via email at lwalters@williamslake.ca

SBF

Wednesday News Wrap - Sept 14th edition

In 100 Mile House:


* Proposed new community library for Lac La Hache  - see here
* Weekend vandalism in Centennial Park closes trail - see here
*Agriplex Society has successfully obtained its building permit for repairs to the old Stan Halcro Arena - see here
* Opening 15 long-term care at Fishcher Place not a priority for Interior Health - see here
* Letter writer Lee Wood of Burnaby has "interesting" idea on how to revert HST to GST/PST in less than 18 months - see here

In Williams Lake:


* Scott Nelson pitches a "one dollar a year" idea for seniors' & Cariboo Lodge - see the video here and see the response from Bill Reid, a local senior and a member of the Williams Lake and Area Seniors' Advisory Council.  See that here

Finally - Earlier in the week, CBC Daybreak North interviewed Alberto De Feo (CAO - District of Lake Country) regarding the proposed Municipal Auditor-General.  You can listen to it here

In Quesnel:


* The on-going war between Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom and Quesnel Councillor Sushil Thapar continues with the latest salvo being Thapar accusing Sjostrom of putting in for claims for items like "a vehicle windshield", "chocolates", and a "pedicure" and he is demanding that Sjostrom repay City of Quesnel taxpayers' for these items.  Sjostrom, for her part, says "When will it end?".  She also says that these claims of Thapar are "false" as Quesnel City Staff follow strict procedures in order to approve any claim request(s) that come in for approval

Editor's Note - I wonder how much lower Quesnel Council politics can sink??  I will say that, unlike in previous years, Sushil Thapar is really pushing the "limits" on these statements of his and this is "out of character" for him, especially for the period of 2006-spring of 2009, where he didn't usually make these sort of "very hard hitting"comments as he was quite mellow before this...

Items coming up on Tuesday - Committee of the Whole Meeting (WL Council)

A number of interesting items are coming forward at Tuesday's Williams Lake Committee of the Whole (Council) meeting, as follows (see the full Agenda here):

1) New Parks, Trail and Outdoor Recreation Master Plan.  See here.  The Plan calls upon Council, of all things, to ditch small parks, like Tot Park on 12th Avenue, Patrick Reid Park on Boundary Street and start planning for a 2nd municipal cemetery in the Westridge neighbourhood.  When the City starts to consult on the 2nd municipal cemetery idea in Westridge - I can see how that idea may get a cold shoulder by Westridge residents - I'm not too fond of that idea and we should have a list of alternate sites for a 2nd municipal cemetery (no list of alternate sites available in the Parks, Trails, and Outdoor Recreation Master Plan). 

Finally - the City Staff report on this item makes reference to the local Joint Committee.  Hopefully - this item will not be adopted at this meeting (City Staff are recommending this Parks, Trails, Outdoor Rec Master Plan be adopted), but again just receive and refer to Joint Committee for discussion and approval.  If not - the lesson learned over the Indoor Turf Facility business case tender clearly was not learned.  Finally - I wonder if Acting Mayor Geoff Bourdon or Mayor Kerry Cook, as Co-Chair of the local Joint Committee, made sure that the CRD Directors for Areas D, E, F were made aware of this item coming forward at Tuesday's Council Meeting.  It would have been the neighbourly thing to do...

2) Royal Canadian Legion Property Taxes - they are requested a 100% exemption.  See here.  They indicate that Salmon Arm/Enderby has given them 100% property tax exemption and Quesnel has also looked at this issue as well.  I really sympathize with them as they do a lot of work for Veterans and Cadets, but given the hard economic times this year (2 Sawmills down early this summer) in Williams Lake, it is not likely that Council will agree to their request

3) Property Tax Exemptions Policy - see here.  Although this new policy, if adopted, is a step in the right direction.  I would take a step further and say - let's have 3 year property tax exemptions.  Sure - you might have to tighten the requirements to qualify for a 3 year exemption, but then there would be admin efficiencies by not having to deal with exemptions, year after year.  Note - Quesnel Council has a similar 3 year property tax exemption policy with a public hearing on it so the public can provide input to Quesnel Council prior to approving the 3 Year Property Tax Exemption list

4) Rick Hansen Monument at TDC - see report from Alan Madrigga here.  Curious though - the report does not identify funding sources which would lead one to believe that City Staff are asking Council to consider putting money into this project.  Note - local residents' previously were not happy with Scott Nelson's Council when they invest money into statues by Lake City Ford and down by A&W on Highway #97, given the amount of money used