There will be a few new faces along with familiar ones on council come December following the District of Squamish municipal election Saturday (Nov. 15). Incumbent candidates Mike Jenson and Jeff McKenzie will not be returning to council come December and Greg Gardner will take the mayor's chair after an election that saw 4,629 votes cast by 41 per cent of eligible voters.Gardner, who was first elected to council in a 2006 by-election, becomes mayor of Squamish with 80.5 per cent of the ballots cast. Gardner said his first order of business is to take a break and re-group. "I'm going to take a week off and during that week I'm going to gather my thoughts," he said during celebrations at Rockwell's restaurant at the Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort. "Very early in December, I hope to have a strategic planning session so we can as a team decide what our top priorities are and move forward from there." Popular political pundit Terrill Patterson received a much slimmer margin than his last run for council with only 513 votes, of 16.2 per cent of ballots. The final mayoral candidate, John Erickson, received 3.3 per cent of the votes.Councillors talk prioritiesWhile few residents could express surprise at the mayoral results, the race for six council seats was far from a sure thing. Topping the ballots with 56.7 per cent of voter support is retired lawyer Doug Race. Race said he feels honoured by the vote."I'm really looking forward to the challenge," he said. Race said he wants to make employment a priority."That's the key to a whole bunch of things. It's a key to better tax revenue, it's a key to people having jobs here opposed to commuting."Incumbent and longstanding council member Corinne Lonsdale, the second most popular candidate with 53.1 per cent support, appeared elated with the win and said she had been "really nervous.""There really were a lot of really good candidates this time. I wondered if I'd worked hard enough and I'm just so thankful that people put their trust in me again and I'll work just as hard for the next three years."Lonsdale did not hesitate over her priorities."Financial stuff is always number one with me, and jobs. Jobs."Upon hearing results of his strong third place finish from his party at the Howe Sound Brew Pub, Bryan Raiser, for whom 49.6 per cent of voters cast ballots, expressed his love for the community. "Even people who disagree with my opinions once in a while know I love this town and I want to see it do good. I'm just stoked that I'm going to have a hand in making Squamish the great place we all know it can be."Raiser said he's made his priorities known and is now anxious to get to work."For years, I've been saying we should be doing this, we should be doing that. Now, I finally get to find out exactly why we haven't done any of that, so it's exciting."The environment topped several candidates' agendas this election, and fourth place candidate Patricia Heintzman, who got 48.8 per cent of voters' support says she'll continue to pursue green solutions."Water metering and the new garbage phase are important things that need to get done, but the community is concerned about them because of the fiscal issues," she said from her celebrations at the Brackendale Art Gallery. "We need a mindshift, making these things a priority, to a different way of thinking."Heintzman echoed Gardner's sentiment over the council group's cohesiveness."We need to develop respect and understanding of each other rather than outsmart each other."Fifth place contender Rob Kirkham, who had 42.9 per cent of voters cast a ballot for him, said winning the election felt "great." A large part of that had to do with the rest of the newly-elected members."I think you're better to have a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds so that all of the community gets represented and we can work together the reach a consensus. It looks like we have a pretty good variety of people on council."The Scotia Bank manager said he anticipates finances and budget issues to be the challenge going into City Hall."I know probably there's going to be quite a struggle because it already looks like there's going to have to call for a raise in taxes but I'm really not interested in that at all."The final candidate to earn a council seat with 37.4 per cent of voter support, Paul Lalli said he feels "humbled" by the victory."I've been out of politics for six years in Squamish. I'm honoured and I respect the people of Squamish electing me again to the position of council."Lalli said he hopes to address "the issues with fiscal mismanagement that we've had over the last six years" by adopting "out of the box" strategies for revenue opportunities.Defeated candidates remain positiveWith 18 candidates running for six positions, there was more defeat than victory on Saturday evening. But the unsuccessful hopefuls took their loss graciously. Incumbent Mike Jenson, who lost his seat on council by 85 votes, was unavailable for comment by deadline.However the second defeated incumbent, Jeff McKenzie, hovered at the election site at Brennan Park awaiting results. McKenzie had a positive spin on the final tally."You win if you win and you win if you lose," he said. "You don't have to have your private life out there."McKenzie added he would remain active and involved in community issues, specifying support for Garibaldi at Squamish as a top priority. Catherine Jackson, who was celebrating Heintzman's win in Brackendale rather than bemoaning her loss, said she continues to hope for great things for Squamish. "I hope we all make progress and work together to a prosperous future that builds on our strengths and appreciate our natural assets. I hope we all communicate and listen to each other to achieve prosperity."The youngest candidate to run, 21-year-old David Clarkson, said he wasn't surprised by the loss, and already has plans set for the next three years."I was talking to my mom earlier today and I said 'Either I get in and I do this for three years or I'll focus on school and traveling for the next three years."Turner wins in Area DSquamish-Lillooet Regional District Area D director John Turner was handily re-elected against challenger Terrill Patterson by a margin of 114 votes to 18.A mixup in a website run by thte provincial government meant that for more than an hour last night, www.squamishchief.com was reporting that Patterson had actually defeated Turner, but by 11 p.m. the chief electoral officer had confirmed the correct number.Preliminary Municipal Election Results (updated 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15)MAYOR: (bold=elected, x=incumbent councillor)x-Greg Gardner 3557 (80.5%)Terrill Patterson 715 (16.2%)John Erickson 146 (3.3%)COUNCIL:(bold=elected, x=incumbent)1. Doug Race 26252. x-Corinne Lonsdale 24583. Bryan Raiser 22974. x-Patricia Heintzman 22605. Rob Kirkham 19886. Paul Lalli 17617. x-Mike Jenson 16768. Catherine Jackson 16149. x-Jeff McKenzie 147410. Donna Billy 129911. David Clarkson 121912. Larry McLennan 73013. Alan Forsythe 63614. Jorli Ricker 45115. Ken Perry 29316. Deb McBride 27717. Ron Bahm 14418. John McIllwraith 102SLRD AREA D(bold=elected, x=incumbent)1. x-John Turner 1142. Terrill Patterson 18SCHOOL TRUSTEE:(bold=elected, x=incumbent)1. x-Rick Price 30292. x-Andrea Beaubien 27393. Terrill Patterson 1086
