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West Kelowna has a new mayor. Nobody voted.

Two-term councillor Stephen Johnston was acclaimed after no other candidates came forward, and he takes the chair with a blunt promise: restore public confidence in a city government burned by cost overruns.

The record he's answering for

The new city hall and library project came in more than six million dollars over budget.

The Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant drew sustained public scrutiny over how it would be financed and repaid by property owners.

Johnston sat on the council that oversaw both. He isn't pretending otherwise.

"It's no secret that we did have a couple projects that went over budget. It was a difficult and challenging time," he told Global News.

What's changing

The city has started publishing budgeted versus actual expenses side by side, something Johnston admits "we've been missing for a long time."

An independent review of the capital project delivery model was commissioned, and he says bigger changes to the budgeting process are coming.

He's also building relationships with provincial cabinet ministers, which he calls crucial for future projects.

The bigger agenda

Beyond the books, Johnston is pushing immediate infrastructure and healthcare improvements: expanding the William R. Bennett Bridge to six lanes, a second lake crossing as the long-term fix, and a regional hospital in West Kelowna so residents stop depending on cross-bridge trips to Kelowna General.

Homelessness, addiction, and wildfire resilience are also on his list.

The bottom line

Acclamation is not a mandate. It's an absence of alternatives.

Johnston knows the trust has to be earned back project by project, dollar by dollar. Taxpayers should hold him to exactly that.