After two years of being in office, Hope councillor Zachary Wells is resigning.
Wells sent in his resignation to mayor and council last Monday (Feb. 3) due to his business requiring more of his time.
“The reason he stepped down is because he’s had a lot of business demands and they’re all out of town,” said Mayor Victor Smith. “And he feels that he’s not serving council properly. And that his seat could be better served by somebody else.
“It’s a good call. He was just here locally when he got elected and now he’s all over.”
Wells was elected onto council during the 2022 election, on Oct. 15, along with five councillors Heather Stewin, Scott Medlock, Pauline Newbigging, Angela Skoglund and Crystal Sedore, as well as Smith. This is the second resignation of that elected council; Sedore resigned on Aug. 28, 2023 and her position was filled by Dusty Smith, from a byelection held on Nov. 25, 2023.
With this resignation, a byelection will be taking place in April: General Voting Day will be on April 26; Advanced Voting will take place on April 16 and April 23.
Branden Morgan was appointed as Chief Election Officer, and Donna Bellingham was appointed as the Deputy Chief Election Officer, by the District of Hope.
The Standard has reached out to Wells for comment.
