There is a big change at the top at City Hall in North Battleford.
David Gillan has been elected mayor of North Battleford, easing out incumbent Ryan Bater 1198 to 988 in Monday's municipal election.
Lois Laing finished well behind with 74, James Sieben had 50 and Misa Nikolic 40. All results are now in from the advanced polls and the election day polls at the Civic Centre.
Gillan and a few of his campaign team followed the results online from a room at the Blend restaurant. When he took the lead based on advanced poll results, the team realized they had a shot at winning.
"I was thinking -- wow, I had a chance," Gillan said in speaking to the News-Optimist. He said that with incumbent Bater on the ballot he expected a much tighter race. "I was in for a neck-and-neck at the very best. I didn't expect such great support to tell you the truth."
Gillan said his team told him they expected the trend from the advance polls to last into the final polls. At that point, the fact that he might indeed become Mayor hit him. "Wow, this might be real now," was Gillan's thoughts.
Not long after, the Civic Centre results came in confirming Gillan had won, touching off a big celebration amongst his team of supporters who Gillan said were jumping up and down.
"It's been fantastic," Gillan said, adding he is "very humbled" by the community's support.
Gillan is the outgoing director of finance and deputy chief administrator for the Town of Battleford; prior to that he spent three years as director of finance for the City of North Battleford. Among the major items Gillan was involved with during his time as city finance director was development of the vacant commercial buildings policy as well as addressing the Husky oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River.
Before that, Gillan spent several years working for companies in Asia. He holds an MBA from the University of Saskatchewan and a bachelor's degree from the University of Prince Edward Island, and holds a registered municipal administrator designation with the Urban Municipal Administrators Association of Saskatchewan.
Gillan says he expects to wrap up his position over at the town of Battleford over the next month. He has already been in touch with the city director of legislative services Debbie Wohlberg about protocols for the transition. He officially takes over as mayor Nov. 16 when he and the rest of council will be sworn in.
During his campaign for Mayor, Gillan ran on a platform to address crime and safety issues, to bring industry development to the city, and improving service delivery.
Gillan indicated those will still be his priorities, but expects the budget to be the biggest immediate one. The budget normally is brought down during late November-early December.
While there is a new face at the top, the council ranks will see a lot of experience returning to City Hall.
Elected to council in order of finish are Kelli Hawtin with 1516, Kent Lindgren with 1278, Greg Lightfoot with 1151, Len Taylor with 1148, Thomas (Bill) Ironstand with 983 and Ross MacAngus with 780. Hawtin, Lindgren, Lightfoot and Taylor are all returning incumbents while Ironstand and MacAngus are the newcomers on council.
Warren Williams just missed the final cut at 741 votes, followed by Matthew Parker with 726, Dennis Mercer with 700, Clay Lazar with 671, Sheldon Rafuse with 650, Valorie Higgs with 612 and George Plews with 571.
These are all unofficial returns from both the advance polls and the election day poll at the Civic Centre. Official results will be confirmed Thursday morning by city clerk and chief returning officer Debbie Wohlberg.
The election was held following a snow-filled weekend in the Battlefords and throughout Saskatchewan.
The blizzard conditions that hit the province on Sunday forced Saskatoon to postpone its civic election until Friday. Swift Current also postponed its municipal vote until Thursday.
The province had given returning officers the option to postpone the election vote due to the conditions, with pileups of snow making it difficult for many residents to be able to vote. Despite the snow on the ground in the Battlefords both the North Battleford and Battleford elections went on as scheduled.
The municipal vote also went on as scheduled in Regina. Much like North Battleford, Regina saw a change at the top, as incumbent Michael Fougere was defeated by Sandra Masters in the mayor's race.
It was a quieter race in the town of Battleford, as the mayor's race there was already decided with Ames Leslie having already won by acclamation.
The race saw several familiar faces end up back on council. Incumbents Kevin Russell, Judy Pruden, Shelley Boutin-Gervais and Doug Laing were all re-elected and they will be joined by former councillor David George as well as newcomer Alexis Christensen. Longtime councillor Gordon Yarde was among those defeated. In total, 11 candidates were in the council race in Battleford.
