Joe Hordyski has sat on La Ronge council for a total of 24 years. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

election

Hordyski claims mayor chair following byelection win

Oct 6, 2022 | 3:24 PM

Joe Hordyski has become the mayor of La Ronge for a second time.

He easily won Wednesday’s municipal byelection with 273 votes to Matthew Klassen’s 138. Both men sat as councillors prior to yesterday’s byelection, which was triggered by the departure of former mayor Colin Ratushniak in July.

“I was quite overwhelmed,” Hordyski said about the win. “I did work hard. I door-knocked for a couple of weeks. I had some really good conversations with people on their doorstep and I think it paid off.”

Hordyski is a veteran politician having previously served on town council from 1991 to 2006. He was mayor for 12 of those years.

“You live over the years and you are always your own critic,” Hordyski said. “There are things that could have been done, should be done. The issues are all different now, too. We haven’t had significant development in a while. That’s going to be a focus. We have some social issues we have to deal with. It’s going to be a balance between moving the community forward and trying to deal with some of the issues our residents are concerned about.”

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Hordyski campaigned on moving ahead with a $8 million Highway 102 Economic Corridor Master Plan, focusing more on the needs of downtown businesses, and the continuation of further regionalization on issues such as the new long-term care centre, homelessness and tackling the high stray dog population.

Klassen, who first joined council in 2016, made his first attempt at securing the position of mayor in 2020. He ultimately lost in a four-person race to Ratushniak, but he later returned as a councillor following a byelection held after the death of Hugh Watt.

Hordyski’s win means a councillor position is vacant and it will be filled once a third byelection is held Nov. 30. He will officially be sworn in as mayor on Oct. 11.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno