It was a time for change as Summerlanders elected new representatives to council on Saturday.
Only two incumbents were returned. A third candidate had been on council in the past while three first-time candidates were elected.
Mayor Janice Perrino will serve a second term in the mayor’s chair as she was in by acclamation.
Voter turnout was low, with 2,994 of 8276 eligible voters casting ballots.
The three candidates who topped the polls are all newcomers to the council table.
Orv Robson led the pack of 10 candidates with 1,861 votes or more than 62 per cent of all ballots cast.
Martin Van Alphen was next with 1,675 votes or support from 56 per cent of voters, followed by Robert Hacking with 1,586 votes or 53 per cent support.
Incumbent Bruce Hallquist retained his seat with 1,522 votes, or 51 per cent support. Hallquist has a long history on council, serving at least one term in every decade since the 1970s.
Peter Waterman, who served on council from 2005 to 2008 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2008, was elected with 1,365 votes. This works out to support from close to 46 per cent of the electors.
Incumbent Lloyd Christopherson, first elected in 2008, was returned with 1,298 votes, or 43 per cent support.
The gap between Christopherson and the next candidate was small as incumbent Ken Roberge received 1,243 votes or 41.5 per cent support, just 55 votes short of Christopherson’s total.
Donna Wright finished with 1,236 or just over 41 per cent support, incumbent Jim Kyluik had 1,147 and incumbent Gordon Clark had 1,146, or 38.3 per cent support each.
Perrino is pleased to see three on council who have not been councillors in the past.
“It was excellent to see Orv Robson and Mary Van Alphen place so well,” she said, “and I’m thrilled to see Robert Hacking elected. Congratulations to everyone for a well-run campaign.”
The election results mean significant changes at the council table as four of the members of the outgoing council will not return.
Roberge, Kyluik and Clark were not elected. Coun. Sam Elia, who had initially filed nomination papers, withdrew his name from the race.
The new council will serve a three-year term.