Steve Fairbairn has been elected mayor of Elkford.
Fairbairn will be taking the seat from Dean McKerracher, who has served as mayor of the town for 17 years.
The margin between Fairbairn and his opponent, Mandy McGregor was wide – Fairbairn got 518 votes (73.9 percent), while McGregor got 183 (or 26.1 percent).
Speaking immediately after the results came out, Fairbairn said he was pleased.
“I have to say it was a fair and positive election campaign. Everybody stayed above board, and I’m very pleased to have been part of that.”
He said he owes the people of Elkford a big thank you.
“I have a lot of responsibility and I fully intend to keep them pleased that they voted for me.”
He said he is very excited, that it’s wonderful, and that he has a good mandate.
“I don’t want to say I envision in four years solving a housing problem, but I’d like to think in four years I’ll have made a good start on it. And hopefully in four years we’ll have a better level of medical care than we have now.”
Fairbairn also said that he would like to see some construction in the downtown core, and really hopes to see some purpose-built rental homes for people.
“That would be glorious, that would be wonderful,” he said.
When asked by The Free Press what will be the first thing on the agenda when he takes the mayor seat, he said bureaucratic paperwork, assigning council to committees, working with the Chief Administrative Officer and putting into more formal words some of the objectives as far as where they move with all their projects.
Joining Fairbairn on council for the next four years will be Shawna Bryant, Duncan McDonald, Jason Meldrum, Len Gostick, Tathlina Lovlin, and Bert Schalekamp.
Commenting on his opponent for mayor, McGregor, he said she ran a good, solid, clean campaign.
“She’d have done a good job, her heart was in it, and she cares for Elkford,” he said.
“And good on her, I’m glad she stood up and ran. She stood up for what she believes in, and that’s what we want to see.”
In a post-election call with The Free Press, McGregor congratulated Fairbairn and the newly-elected council.
“(I) wish them the best of luck in the next four years in their term,” she said.
As for voter turnout, there was a total of 701 ballots cast, with estimated eligible voters at 1,993.
READ MORE: Steve Fairbairn running for Mayor of Elkford
READ MORE: Elkford has two mayoral candidates and seven councillor candidates to choose from
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josh.fischlin@thefreepress.ca
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