North Islanders turned out at polling places throughout the region Saturday and sent a consistent message:
Experience counts.
Former mayor Hank Bood was reinstated into the job in the District of Port Hardy, while Shirley Ackland, a two-term councillor in Port McNeill, was selected to succeed the country's longest currently-serving mayor in Port McNeill.
With just a few exceptions, incumbents and former elected officials making comebacks fared well throughout municipal, school board and regional district elections across the North Island.
Results from across the province were posted online by Civic Info BC throughout Saturday night, though not all jurisdictions were available as of midnight. Neither the District of Port Hardy nor the Town of Port McNeill, both of which featured contested positions for mayor and council, had posted results until early Sunday.
In the District of Port Hardy, Bood, who served as Mayor until 2008, reclaimed the job over Janet Dorward, who has served on council since being elected in 2011.
Meanwhile, the top two vote-getters in a field of 13 council candidates were newcomers Dennis Dugas and Pat Corbett-Labatt. But they will join a trio of incumbents on the six-member council — John Tidbury, Rick Marcotte and Jesse Hemphill — along with fellow first-time councillor Fred Robertson.
Each will serve a four-year term, the result of provincial legislation that increases the length of terms for municipal office from the three-year terms that had been in place for decades.
The Town of Port McNeill featured a unique scenario in which all four members of the outgoing council were to be replaced. But two of those spots went to former councillors Shelley Downey and Aaron Frost, who both served through 2011. Downey ran for mayor that year and failed to unseat Gerry Furney, who went on to complete 39 years on the job before retiring this fall; while Frost had stepped aside for professional development reasons.
They are joined by first-time candidates Jay Dixon, the principal of North Island Secondary School and the top vote-getter, and Graham MacDonald, a small businessman and promoter of non-timber forest products.
Ackland, who served as Deputy Mayor to Furney during the most recent term, outdueled fellow councillor Gaby Wickstrom in a two-person mayor's race.
The seven spots on the School District 85 Board of Trustees were filled by six incumbents and one former trustee who returns to the board. Under restructuring of electoral areas approved by the province earlier this year, Port McNeill was to increase its membership to two members from one. There, three-term incumbent Werner Manke was joined by former trustee Lyn Skrlac, who returns to the board. Meanwhile, the outlying municipalities of Alert Bay and Port Alice, along with the the former Eastern Zone that included Malcolm Island, voted for two trustee representatives. Previously, the three jurisdictions each had their own individual trustee on the board. Incumbents Carol Prescott of Port Alice and Eric Hunter of Alert Bay were returned, while Lawrie Garrett of Sointula fell victim to the restructuring and was left off the board.
The three positions for Area 1, which comprises the 'North' zone of Port Hardy and Coal Harbour, were all filled by acclimation in October, with incumbents Jeff Field and Leightan Wishart of Port Hardy and Danita Schmidt of Coal Harbour all returning for another term on the Board.
The closest election of the day came in the Regional District of Mount Waddington, where incumbent Andrew Hory of Coal Harbour appeared to retain his spot as Electoral Area C director by a one-vote margin over challenger Patrick Horgan.
In unofficial results posted late Saturday night by Civic Info BC, Hory was credited with 117 votes to 116 for Horgan in their duel for Electoral Area C representative on the RDMW Board.
If that count holds up, Hory will rejoin three other returning area directors who all ran unopposed. Heidi Soltau of Sointula (Area A), Phil Wainwright of Winter Harbour (Area B) and Dave Rushton of Woss (Area D) were all acclaimed for their board positions shortly after the close of nominations.
Unofficial results were posted Saturday night for two other North Island municipalities.
In Alert Bay, first-time candidate Dennis Buchanan was the clear front-runner among seven council candidates with 157 votes. He will join returning councillors Kane Gordon (133) and Wendy White (107), along with fellow first-time candidate Lisanne Granger (103) on the four-member council.
Michael Berry returns as mayor of the Village by acclimation.
Also returning by acclimation is Port Alice Mayor Jan Allen, who will work with a council that underwent something of a shakeup.
Newcomer Marnie Chase was the runaway top vote-getter for Port Alice Council with 230 votes. The other three successful candidates to the four-person council were closely bunched in balloting, with first-timers Christine Martin (175 votes) and Doug Worthington (165) bracketing returning councillor David Stewart (171).
Marc Brackett, along with Stewart the only incumbent running for council, finished a distant fifth with 142 votes and will not return.
Election Results:
Alert Bay
Mayor Candidate(s)
Michael Berry
Councillor Candidate(s)(4)
Dennis Buchanan 157
Kane Gordon 133
Wendy White 107
Lisanne Granger 103
Kim Mercer 95
Duncan Williams 84
David Faren 49
Port Alice
Mayor Candidate(s)
Jan Allen
Councillor Candidate(s)(4)
Marnie Chase 230
Christine Martin 175
David Stewart 171
Doug Worthington 165
Marc Brackett 142
Port Hardy
Mayor Candidate(s)
Hank Bood 746
Janet Dorward 534
Councillor Candidate(s)(6)
Dennis Dugas 839
Pat Corbett-Labatt 801
John Tidbury 656
Rick Marcotte 610
Fred Robertson 585
Jessie Hemphill 493
Leightan Wishart 490
Debbie Perkovich 450
Shelley Siemens 441
Eric Ralph 374
Rodney Romas 328
Shelley Quist 175
Graham Richards 149
Port McNeill
Mayor Candidate(s)
Shirley Ackland 614
Gaby Wickstrom 406
Councillor Candidate(s)(4)
Jay Dixon 745
Shelley Downey 690
Aaron Frost 653
Graham Macdonald 553
Jason Clark 442
Alannah Nicols 182
MWRD
Director Candidate(s)
Electoral Area A
Heidi Soltau
Electoral Area B
Philip Wainwright
Electoral Area C (1)
Andrew Hory 117
Patrick Horgan 116
Electoral Area D
Dave Rushton
School District 85
Trustee Candidate(s)
Area 1(3)
Leightan Wishart
Danita Schmidt
Jeff Field
Area 2(2)
Carol Prescott 346
Eric Hunter 203
CW Petersen 193
Lawrie Garrett 120
Area 3(2)
Werner Manke 606
Lyn Skrlac 557
David Jack 442
Rod Sherrell 381