Two new faces will join five familiar ones on Coldstream council.
Mayor Jim Garlick was overwhelmingly elected to a fourth consecutive term, recording 2,154 votes to defeat challenger Bill Firman, who picked up 419 votes.
Challenger Ruth Hoyte topped the council poll with 1,862 votes and will be joined on council by fellow challenger Stephanie Hoffman, who was fourth with 1,658 votes.
Incumbents Pat Cochrane (1,828), Doug Dirk (1,801), Richard Enns (1,629) and Glen Taylor (1,587) retained their seats, but incumbent Gyula Kiss was defeated, finishing seventh with 1,518 votes, 69 back of Taylor.
“I really appreciate it (re-election) and I’m happy to see that we will have two women on council,” said Garlick. “Stephanie Hoffman, I’ve spoken with her already and she’s excited about getting started. I think it’s great. She’s a young mother and I think that’s a good thing to show the community that anyone can run and we’ll support her all we can. She can have a successful four years here with us.
“Ruth is well-known in the community and I really appreciate her being on-board. I’m sad that Gyula is no longer here but I think Gyula will stay involved and he’ll always have our ear and will continue working for the community.”
Firman admits he got hammered in the vote.
“That’s all you can say,” said Firman, a former councillor. “I’m not overly concerned. I was just looking for something to do. They got the right guy. I am surprised they booted Gyula. He’s the one guy on there who has both feet on the ground, especially when it comes to water. I guess they don’t want old people on council.”
Hoyte feels very privileged and honoured to have the district’s support and confidence.
“I’m looking forward to serving the residents next four years,” said Hoyte. “I’m open to listening to them, and hearing their comments and doing the very best I can. I think it will be a great team overall.”
Hoffman is eager to get to work.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to join some great people and see how we can serve our community the best we can,” said Hoffman. “It sounds like there’s a lot of great things being planned for the continued betterment and I look forward to being a part of that.”
Garlick was voted in by acclamation in 2014, while Dirk topped the council poll with 1,670 votes. Cochrane was second four years ago, Kiss was third, Enns fourth, Peter MacLean, who did not seek re-election, was fifth and Taylor was sixth.
Voter turnout Saturday showed 2,609 votes were cast out of 8,037 eligible voters for a 32.5 per cent rate, exactly the same as four years ago.