Although five incumbent councillors were hoping to secure a seat on Houston’s council, only three –Jonathan Van Barneveld, Tom Stringfellow and Tim Anderson– were re-elected.
They will be joining newly elected councillors Troy Reitsma, Lisa Makuk and Tom Euverman (who served prior to 2014), as well as Houston Mayor Shane Brienen, who was elected by acclamation, to find the best path for the District of Houston over the next four years.
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Van Barneveld received 463 votes while Reitsma, Stringfellow and Anderson received 384, 360 and 354 respectively; Euverman and Makuk were elected with 349 and 345 votes respectively.
Candidates that didn’t make the cut for Houston’s council include incumbents John Siebenga and Dennis Tait, who received 284 votes and 165 votes respectively, as well as Nichelle Cranmer (221 votes), Peter Aman (166 votes) and Dylan MacDonald (51 votes).
A total of 613 votes were cast in Houston, which has an estimated 2,199 eligible voters.
School District No. 54 (Bulkley Valley) trustees for the Houston area –Leslie Kerns and Jennifer Williams– were re-elected by acclamation.
Robert Newell, Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako’s Electoral Area G (Houston rural) director, was also re-elected by acclamation.
Meanwhile in Burns Lake, Dolores Funk won over incumbent Albert Gerow with nearly 100 more votes.
READ MORE: Incumbents and acclaimed mayors win elections all across B.C.’s north
In Smithers, Taylor Bachrach was reelected for a third straight term, beating Randy Bell 1137-639.
Brad Layton was elected the new mayor of Telkwa. He defeated John McDivitt 244-83.
In Hazelton, Dennis Sterritt defeated Alice Maitland, 76-45, to become the new mayor.
Incumbent District of New Hazelton Mayor Gail Lowry was re-elected for a third straight term after a 74-29 victory against her challenger Robert Henwood.
Granisle Mayor Linda McGuire was re-elected by acclamation.
Fraser Lake elected their first female mayor with Sarrah Storey. Including Storey, the community has a majority-women council for the first time ever.
Vanderhoof saw incumbent Gerry Thiessen beat out newcomer Justus Benckhuysen with nearly double the votes.
– With files from Katya Slepian and Michael Grace-Dacosta
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