Terry Leslie is now mayor of Sundre for the next four years, after winning by 421 votes in Monday's municipal election.
There will also be new faces on Sundre council, as Jodi Orr and Verna McFadden join Paul Isaac, Chris Vardas, Tony Jordan and Myron Thompson. Cheri Funke was not re-elected.
Leslie received a total of 556 votes while incumbent mayor Annette Clews received a total of 135 votes.
As for council, Isaac took the lead with 515 votes, Vardas wasn't far behind with 513 votes and Orr at 510 votes. Jordan received 481 votes, McFadden received 475 votes and Thompson received 470 votes. Funke received 388 votes.
“I'm really excited,” said Leslie. “It looks like the stability of all of the good work that council has done is going to be continued with the continuity with many of the people that know how things have been with the reasons behind it.”
He says he feels comfortable moving forward with the elected council and is happy to see new faces.
One of the first things on his mind as mayor is hiring a chief administrative officer for Sundre.
“I'm really grateful for the support I got in this election. I feel honoured and take the responsibility very seriously,” he said. “I won't let them (voters) down.”
There is going to be a meeting on Saturday for Leslie and councillors to be educated on their roles and responsibilities going into the four-year term.
There will also be an organizational structure meeting on Monday and council will be jumping into budget deliberations in upcoming weeks.
“I'm glad that I'm re-elected and I'm excited to keep working on things we're working on,” said Isaac.
Jordan agreed with Isaac and said “things will be positive”.
McFadden said her first priority is improving Main Avenue and that sitting on council “will be an interesting ride”.
Orr said it has been a long month of campaigning and is looking forward to learning on council.
Vardas said he is glad the anxiety is over and happy he got “another four years out of it”.
All results were unofficial at press time.
