After nearly a decade on White Rock council, Coun. Grant Meyer has officially confirmed he is taking aim at the city’s top job.
“I’m definitely going to be going for it,” he told Peace Arch News Wednesday, of his decision to run for mayor in the Oct. 20 election.
Meyer first publicly confirmed in February that he was considering the move, shortly after current Mayor Wayne Baldwin announced he would not seek a third term. At that time, fellow slate member Bill Lawrence and independent Helen Fathers also said they hadn’t ruled out a mayoral run.
Meyer, 43, was first elected to council in 2009, and ran as an independent for two terms. In the 2014 election, he ran as a member of the White Rock Coalition, with fellow incumbent Lawrence, former councillors Lynne Sinclair and Cliff Annable, notary Megan Knight and Tourism White Rock vice-president Doug Hart.
The coalition was described at the time as “a non-partisan team of independents working together for a better White Rock,” and it won four of six councillor seats, with only Annable and Hart unelected.
Meyer confirmed Wednesday he would again run under the White Rock Coalition banner.
“We’ll be running a team again, for sure. As you know, though, we didn’t vote the same a lot of times this term. We’ll be running a team with, I imagine, a few new faces, and some of the old ones as well.”
Meyer said incumbents Lawrence, Sinclair and Knight would return as coalition candidates for councillor. Exactly who the “new faces” will be hasn’t been confirmed, but “I think it’s a good sign we’ve had more than a few people inquire.”
Meyer said the coalition is “proud of most of our record.” He named restricting highrises to along Johnston Road and North Bluff, coming out against a highrise on the former White Rock Mufflers site, the water-utility acquisition and the Memorial Park upgrade as among achievements.
“I stand by our decision to spend that money on Memorial Park,” Meyer said. “Some (council critics) said you just needed to paint the washrooms. But they were absolutely disgusting and they stunk of pee.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of money. Hopefully, it’s going to be there for 50 years.”
Meyer expects the campaign will be “a busy campaign and tough campaign.”
He said he has no plans to leave his job with BC Ferries, where he is a second officer, though he has discussed with his employer the possibility of taking some leaves of absence or job-sharing.
“We’ve had mayors in the past with full-time jobs,” he said. “I’ve told them my plans and they’ve been very supportive.”