Barbara Hart is set to become Enterprise’s next mayor by acclamation after nominations closed for an election that will move the hamlet back out of public administration.
Residents were told last month that the hamlet would move forward with an election before the end of the year, despite its public administrator and some residents expressing concern that Enterprise wasn’t ready for a return to elected officials.
Three people – Evellyn Coleman, Mike Kimble and Lawrence Poitras – are set to be acclaimed as councillors, according to a notice posted by the hamlet.
They were the only candidates for four open council seats and Hart was the only candidate for mayor.
Candidates are acclaimed into elected roles when there are more or the same number of positions open as there are candidates for the role, meaning there is no competition for the positions to trigger a vote.
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Last month, residents told Cabin Radio the requirements to vote in the election – as outlined to them – would exclude roughly half the people who called Enterprise their home before a fire tore through the community in 2023, since many had no choice but to move away when their homes burned and haven’t yet been able to rebuild.
The same eligibility requirements applied to prospective candidates.
This marks the first election since the NWT’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs placed the hamlet into administration in May, dissolving Enterprise’s mayor and council.
At the time, the department said Enterprise had “governance, financial, and operational challenges.”
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At the time, some residents – including the hamlet’s former mayor – described a “rift” developing in the community between insured and uninsured property owners since the wildfire.
The hamlet endured upheaval in 2024 as multiple councillors resigned, a new mayor lasted just four months and Enterprise’s senior administrator left the role.
Hart, deputy mayor at the time, became mayor in July 2024 after Sandra McMaster resigned. She remained in the role until Mike St Amour was acclaimed as mayor in December that year. St Amour departed when the public administrator arrived half a year later.
