Janice Morrison is looking forward to getting back to work after securing a second term as mayor of Nelson.
Morrison received 1,918 votes in Saturday’s local election, defeating Ramona Faust, who received 1,615. Steven Bergevin finished third with 112 votes, according to preliminary results.
“I’m really excited,” said Morrison. “I’m excited to get into the office on Monday and start doing some work, making some plans and laying out some ideas.”
Morrison described Saturday’s result as both an honour and a privilege, saying she’s grateful for the trust Nelson residents have placed in her.
“It’s an honour and it’s a privilege to know that the people of Nelson feel that I can be their representative, not just here, but on the provincial stage and on the national stage. It doesn’t really have words to describe it. It’s overwhelming.”
The incoming council includes four returning members and two newcomers. Morrison’s first priority is to bring the group together, review their responsibilities and make committee appointments.
“Got four incumbents, they know the ropes, and two new people, so hopefully with four incumbents, we can help bring them along quite quickly, make some committee appointments and then get to work.”
The new council won’t have much time to settle in before tackling its first major financial decisions.
Morrison pointed to the Nelson police budget, which is expected at the end of November.
“So it’s, it’s not like there’s a window. It’s like budgeting starts, and it starts like at the first meeting that you’re gonna come to after we do the inaugural meeting. So it is like hit the ground running.”
Council result breakdown
Voter turnout in Nelson was roughly 39.07 per cent, with preliminary results showing 3,719 ballots were cast out of 9,515 eligible voters.
Kate Tait led the council race with 2,097 votes (56.4 per cent), followed by Keith Page with 1,890 (50.8 per cent), Ainsleah Hastings with 1,734 (46.6 per cent), Leslie Payne with 1,655 (44.5 per cent), Martin Stegman with 1,593 (42.8 per cent) and Jesse Pineiro with 1,563 (42 per cent).
The remaining candidates were Devon Caron with 1,515 votes, Jesse Woodward with 1,402, Corey Viala with 1,336, Aviva Keely with 818, Ian Parfitt with 816, Jess Phillips with 760, Dario Cimolai with 617 and David Johnston with 602.
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