Three people are vying for a seat on Anmore council but only one of them is a village resident.
Nominations closed last Friday for the byelection, which is being held to fill the chair left vacant in June by Coun. Tim Laidler. Candidates have until this Friday to withdraw their application.
Running in the Sept. 22 race are Arthur Crossman of Coquitlam, Sagheer (Sager) Jan of Port Moody, and Anmore's Ann-Marie Thiele.
Under provincial legislation, contestants wanting to hold office don't have to live in the municipality in which the election is happening.
Crossman, who is retired, is well-known locally on the election circuit, having run in Anmore against Heather Anderson for mayor in 2010. Crossman has also sought civic seats in Coquitlam and campaigned for a provincial job (in 2005, he ran as an independent against BC Liberal MLA Iain Black, gaining 227 votes).
Jan has worked as a logistics manager and planning assistant with the United Nations in Monrovia, Liberia. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Karachi. Jan, who ran for the BC Reform Party in 1989 in Vancouver, cites development and sustainability as his platforms.
And Thiele is a stay-at-home mother-of-three who is running for office for the first time. She wants to create sustainable and affordable housing in the village, and explore options for the Ioco lands. "My focus is on the future of Anmore," she said.
Coun. Laidler, who was elected last November, quit two months ago in protest over council's decision to hire Tim Harris as the village's chief administration officer. Laidler said he does not believe Harris is qualified for the job and claimed "outside sources" interfered with the hiring process.
