NOW THAT the final vote count has been tallied from Nov. 19’s elections, the City of Terrace’s new team of elected city officials will be sworn in at city hall next Monday.
The ceremony will be held in the council chambers Dec. 5 starting at 7:30 p.m. with Dave Pernarowski and council’s six members each taking an oath of office for their three-year terms.
Pernarowski returns for a second year on the strength of receiving a majority of the votes cast for mayor – 1,211 or 54 per cent.
His closest challenger is outgoing city councillor Bruce Martindale who received 630 votes.
Jennifer Lewis received 210 votes, Merv Ritchie 169 votes and Don Dunster 27 votes.
All three city councillors from the 2008-2011 council who ran again are returning and all three finished strongly among the 12 candidates.
Bruce Bidgood received the most votes with 1,427 followed by Lynne Christiansen with 1,396 votes and Brian Downie with 1,351 votes.
Placing fourth was Marylin Davies with 921 votes.
It marks a dramatic return to city council for Davies who was defeated in 2008 after several terms, placing last out of the 10 council candidates.
Complete newcomers to council for the next term are James Cordeiro, with 866 votes, and Stacey Tyers, with 827 votes.
Tyers just beat out Tyson Hull with a 14 vote lead. Hull received 813 votes.
Others who ran but weren’t elected for a seat include Tamara Ainscow, who received 709 votes, Chris Gee with 706, Mike Ross with 616, MaryAnn Freeman with 525 and Dan LeFrancois at 483.
This past Monday marked the last council meeting for Martindale and for Brad Pollard who was unsuccessful in trying to switch from a city council seat to one on the Kitimat-Stikine regional district board. He ran for the Area C seat which includes the area north of Terrace and Lakelse Lake.
It was also the last meeting for Carol Leclerc who decided not to run again.
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VOTER turnout for th e city during 2011’s municipal elections is at an all-time low compared to previous years.
Just 28 per cent of eligible voters came out to the polls, placing Terrace at the bottom of all northwest municipalities. Voter turnout was 35 per cent in 2008.
Stewart had the highest turnout of all at 78 per cent, then Granisle at 70 per cent, Port Clements at 57 per cent, Kitimat at 56 per cent, Queen Charlotte at 41.5 per cent, Smithers at 41 per cent, Houston at 39.5 per cent, New Hazelton and Masset at 37 per cent, Telkwa at 36 per cent, and Prince Rupert at 35 per cent.
Stewart’s turnout was the second highest in the province.
While Terrace’s turnout is low, that for the Regional District of Kitimat Stikine and the Coast Mountains School District make it seem not that bad.
The regional district’s voter turnout came in at 14.3 per cent and the school district’s at 12 per cent.