Norman Wells (Sep 29/03) - Kevin Diebold, mayor of Norman Wells, isn't ruling out any future political engagements but he's finished for now.

The one-term mayor said his Norman Wells-based company, Whiponic Wellputer, Ltd., is so swamped with work he doesn't have time to carry on.

"I've got lots of irons in the fire I got to attend to," said Diebold, who said besides running a business and being mayor, had to share his time with the NWT Chamber of Commerce, and the NWT Construction Association, among other activities.

"I'm going to take a break. We'll see what happens."

Diebold estimated that he devoted 1,000 hours since the beginning of this year to being mayor alone. The job pays $12,600 a year, although the next mayor will be making $18,000 following the Oct. 20 election to replace him.

He said despite the long hours he put into the job, he enjoyed it. Several people approached him to run again but he isn't having any of it.

"It went good," said Diebold. "I had a lot of people wanting me to run again."

There are two candidates duking it out to replace him this year: Sarranda "Sam" Kivi and Ann Marie Tout. There are 10 candidates for five available positions to town council.

The list of council candidates are as follows: Tonya Carroll, Mark Collier, Elizabeth Danielsen, Stephen Deschene, Lise Dolen, Robert Foery, Deni Gaccione, Laurel McDonald, Timothy Melnyk, Craig Scott