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HAY RIVER - Reiss Kruger - the youngest town councillor ever elected in Hay River and possibly the NWT - has resigned.

Reiss Kruger: Hay River's youngest town councillor has resigned to pursue post-secondary education. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Kruger submitted his resignation letter on July 11.

The 19-year-old left council because he plans to begin post-secondary education in the fall.

Kruger was elected in the municipal election in October of 2009, meaning he served on council for close to two years.

"I loved it," he said of his time as a councillor. "It was definitely a really good experience."

Kruger was just 18 when he was elected. In fact, he turned 18 on the last day to register as a candidate.

The now ex-councillor said he leaned many things about municipal government.

"You can't really understand the full magnitude of how things work and what it takes to get things done if you're just an observer," he said.

In fact, he believes the experience will help him if he goes on to study political science or journalism. He has applied to two programs – a journalism course at Calgary's Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnic and general studies at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton.

Kruger said he is happy the town dealt with several long-standing issues while he was on council, such as resolving the controversy over an empty lot on Cameron Crescent.

Although he doesn't know where his future will take him, Kruger said it is possible he may one day seek to return to council.

Mayor Kelly Schofield praised Kruger's contributions to council.

"It's unfortunate to see him go. We wish him all the best," the mayor said. "He did a great deal of work here and put in a lot of time and effort, and travelled a lot representing the Town of Hay River at various venues for youth conferences and the Northwest Territories Association of Communities."

Schofield said Kruger brought the youth voice to council, noting he is believed to have been the youngest councillor elected in NWT history.

"So he did bring that unique insight," the mayor said.

The next regular election for the town is in October of next year.

Schofield said council has three options of dealing with the vacant seat – holding a byelection, leaving the seat vacant until the next regular election, or naming a councillor based on the results of the 2009 election.

"If the first person in line is not interested, we would have to go down the list," he explained. "But that also holds problems that council may have to consider. The election was almost two years ago and do the people still feel the same way?"

Schofield said leaving the seat vacant may be the best way to go with the time remaining in the current council's term, rather than holding a costly byelection or going back to almost two years ago.

In the 2009 election, Warren Gibb finished ninth in the vote for eight councillors.

Schofield said he will be talking to councillors to see if they want the issue discussed at their July 18 meeting.

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