Thirty-nine candidates in the running in New West

Vacancies are opening up on New Westminster city council and school board as several incumbents prepare to vacate their seats.

When nominations for the Nov. 15 civic election closed at 4 p.m. on Oct. 10, four candidates had filed paperwork to run for mayor, 22 for city councillor and 13 for school trustee.

On the mayor’s front, four-term mayor Wayne Wright will face challenges from three-term councillor Jonathan Cote, 2011 mayoral candidate James Crosty and 2011 councillor candidate Vladimir Krasnogor.

With Cote running for mayor and longtime councillor Betty McIntosh retiring, 22 candidates will be vying for six spots on city council: John Ashdown; Marge Ashdown; Jim Bell, Tracey Block, Heather Boersma, David Brett, Catherine Cartwright, Calvin Donnelly, Mike Folka, Raj Gupta, Bill Harper (incumbent), Patrick Johnstone, Matt Kadioglu, Tej Kainth, Gerry Liu, Jaimie McEvoy (incumbent), Scott McIntosh, Gavin Palmer, Chuck Puchmayr (incumbent), Mary Trentadue, Lorrie Williams (incumbent) and Harm Woldring.

Thirteen candidates will be competing for seven school trustee positions, but two incumbents won’t be among them. Longtime trustee Lisa Graham and one-term trustee David Phelan aren’t seeking re-election.

The 2014 school trustee candidates are: Glen Armstrong, Jim Bell, Cort Ray Caldwell, Jonina Campbell (incumbent), Casey Cook (incumbent), Michael Ewen (incumbent), Mark Gifford, James Janzen (incumbent), MaryAnn Mortensen (incumbent), Rajiv Pandey, James Pepa, Jeremy Perry and Kelly Slade-Kerr.

Candidates who filed by the Oct. 10 deadline are considered preliminary. The final declaration of candidates will be posted on the city’s website on Oct. 20, once the challenge period ends.