Sechelt voters threw their support behind the youngest council candidate to run in the municipal election, Noel Muller, who topped the Sechelt polls Nov. 15 with 2,629 votes.
“We worked hard for that, so I think that it’s nice to be rewarded for the hard work,” Muller said when contacted by Coast Reporter after the results were confirmed on Monday.
Muller will join incumbents Alice Lutes, Mike Shanks and Darnelda Siegers on council for the next four-year term, along with former mayor and councillor Darren Inkster and newcomer Doug Wright.
Muller felt the new team was a well balanced one, able to help Sechelt move forward during the next four years.
“I think it will help things calm down a bit, the team that we have,” he said.
Lutes said she’s looking forward to working with the new council, “and to building stronger relationships with our friends and neighbours, the Sechelt Nation,” she said.
Shanks was also eager to work with the new team and to get away from the “business government model of administration” and back to the “parliamentary governance model.”
“That means ongoing consultation on major substantive issues with your shareholders, the taxpayers of Sechelt,” Shanks said. “I look forward to working with Mayor Milne and council. We have a good mix of youth, experience and new members. The future looks good for an even better Sechelt.”
Inkster agreed saying there was a good blend on council.
“It looks like a balanced group,” he said, noting he was eager to get to work.
Wright said he was pleased with the vote, adding he was the only newcomer to politics who made it in.
He felt the new council would be responsive to the community’s needs during their four-year term.
“I think the people there are open. I think they want to have open discussions with the public, and I think they are coming in with no preconceived ideas of how things should be. And so they’re open to leading and making Sechelt just a superior place to be and to live,” Wright said.
Siegers did not return phone calls for comment by press time.
The final results for the councillors who were voted in on Nov. 15 in Sechelt are:
Muller 2,629, Inkster 2,427, Lutes 2,250, Shanks 2,166, Wright 1,735, Siegers 1,521.
The new council will be sworn in on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. at the District of Sechelt offices.
