Former Burns Lake councillor Chris Beach was elected as Burns Lake’s new mayor in the village’s by-election.
Beach received 387 votes while Burns Lake’s former fire chief Jim McBride received 106.
“I’m very excited and honoured to become Burns Lake’s new mayor,” he said. “As mayor of Burns Lake, I will focus on responsible infrastructure replacement, economic development and strengthening First Nations partnerships.”
Michael Riis-Christianson was elected as councillor with 213 votes. Candidate Louise Lacerte received 164 votes; Craig Haizimsque received 60 votes; and Gregory Brown received 51 votes.
Riis-Christianson said it will be an honour to represent the community at the council table.
“I will do my best to justify everyone’s faith in me,” he said. “I spoke to a lot of people during the campaign, and look forward to maintaining and building that dialogue in the coming two years.”
Their term will start on Jan. 11, 2017, after the inaugural meeting. Until then, councillor John Illes remains Burns Lake’s acting mayor.
Burns Lake’s by-election had a total of 498 voters. The number of votes reported in this story reflect preliminary results. The official results were not available by press time.
General voting took place on Dec. 10, 2016 at the village office and advance polls took place on Nov. 30, 2016.
Former Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold announced his resignation on Sept. 15, 2016 with approximately two years left on this term.
