West Kootenay election results: Trail elects new mayor, close races for regional directors
Castlegar's preliminary results put Brian Bogle ahead, while Janice Morrison leads Nelson's mayoral count.
Trail City Hall. The city officially declared Nick Cashol elected mayor following the October 17 municipal election.
Photo credit: City of Trail
NELSON — Trail has elected a new mayor, preliminary results show a change of leadership in Castlegar, and several regional district directors are trailing challengers following the October 17 local elections across the West Kootenay.
Nick Cashol has been officially declared mayor of Trail, while Castlegar councillor Brian Bogle leads the preliminary mayoral count in that city. In Nelson, incumbent mayor Janice Morrison leads by 303 votes.
The Regional District of Central Kootenay also reported close contests, including a five-vote margin in Electoral Area A and a 16-vote margin in Area E. Several smaller municipalities filled council positions by acclamation.
Morrison leads Nelson mayoral results
Morrison received 1,918 votes in Nelson's preliminary results, ahead of Ramona Faust with 1,615 and Steven Bergevin with 112.
Kate Tait topped the council count with 2,097 votes, followed by Keith Page with 1,890 and Ainsleah Hastings with 1,734. The remaining three leading candidates were Leslie Payne with 1,655 votes, Martin Stegman with 1,593 and Jesse Pineiro with 1,563.
Devon Caron finished seventh with 1,515 votes, 48 behind Pineiro for the sixth council position.
Nelson scheduled its official determination for October 21. A subsequent declaration confirming or changing the preliminary totals has not been independently verified.
Bogle leads Castlegar mayoral election
In Castlegar, incumbent councillor Brian Bogle received 1,431 votes in the preliminary mayoral count, compared with 556 for fellow councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff and 32 for Donald Pharand.
Bogle's 875-vote lead puts him in position to succeed Maria McFaddin as mayor.
Darcy Bell led the council results with 1,236 votes, followed by Merrick Zemp with 1,124 and Miguel Godau with 1,117. Cherryl MacLeod received 1,103, Chance Boruck 1,091 and Gordon Malcolm 1,028.
Sandy Bojechko finished seventh with 876 votes.
Castlegar identified those results as preliminary, with its official declaration scheduled for October 21.
Cashol elected mayor of Trail
Trail's October 19 official declaration confirmed Nick Cashol as mayor after he received 1,059 votes in the four-candidate contest.
Terry Martin finished second with 766 votes, followed by outgoing mayor Colleen Jones with 439 and Karl Kuepper with 39. Cashol defeated Martin by 293 votes.
The six elected councillors are Bev Benson, Thea Hanson, Mark Buckley, Paul Butler, Sarah Bullock and Glenn Hodge.
Benson received 1,843 votes, Hanson 1,523, Buckley 1,500, Butler 1,306, Bullock 1,106 and Hodge 781.
Trail reported voter turnout of 37.4 per cent.
Municipal offices filled by acclamation
Several smaller West Kootenay municipalities filled some or all council positions without contested elections.
In Warfield, Frank Marino was acclaimed mayor along with councillors Doug Bruce, Erika Krest, Raymond Masleck and Warren Mirko.
Montrose also filled all five municipal positions by acclamation. Mike Walsh will serve as mayor, with Cindy Cook, Russell Cooper, Rory Steep and William Thatcher as councillors.
Salmo's September 21 declaration confirmed Payton McKellar elected mayor by acclamation. Jennifer Lins, Colin Hango, Suzy Gallie and Kyle Gouin were acclaimed as councillors.
In New Denver, Leonard Casley was acclaimed mayor. Daphne Budding, Mary Hartman, Vernon Gustafson and Colin Moss were elected to council.
Nakusp returned Tom Zeleznik as mayor by acclamation. Preliminary council results placed Cameron Leitch first with 422 votes, followed by Ken Miller with 384, Joseph Hughes with 352 and Aidan McLaren-Caux with 262.
Slocan's published results showed Jamie Ingram winning the mayoral contest with 106 votes. Joel Pelletier received 75 and Eunice Ludlow 16.
Dave Fredrickson, Delaine Hird, Katie Strong and Brendan Murray-Nellis were identified as the village's four elected councillors.
Close contests for regional district directors
Some of the closest election results occurred in the Regional District of Central Kootenay.
In Electoral Area A, Forrest Demman received 270 votes, five more than incumbent director Garry Jackman, who received 265.
Area E produced another close result, with Landon Veregin receiving 558 votes against Erin Fitchett's 542, a margin of 16 votes.
In Area B, Danny Turner led incumbent Roger Tierney by 488 votes to 259. Mike Martell led incumbent Kelly Vandenberghe in Area C with 213 votes against 125.
Anna Bundschuh led Area G with 282 votes, ahead of Nathen Rushforth with 116 and Susan Chew with 53.
Will Parker led Area H with 794 votes, compared with 302 for Kevin Shaw and 16 for Jae Hamilton.
In Area J, Gordon Zaitsoff received 348 votes against incumbent Henny Hanegraaf's 312. Incumbent Teresa Weatherhead led Area K with 435 votes against Tina Knooihuizen's 64.
Aimee Watson was acclaimed in Area D, Tom Newell in Area F and Chris Popoff in Area I.
The RDCK published the contested results as unofficial and scheduled formal determination for October 21. The five-vote and 16-vote margins remain subject to official confirmation.
Lower Columbia director elected
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary officially declared Linda Worley elected director for Area B/Lower Columbia–Old Glory.
Worley received 147 votes, defeating James McFaddin, who received 78.
Ali Grieve was acclaimed director for Area A/Beaver Valley.
The RDKB's results for Christina Lake, Rural Grand Forks and West Boundary are being covered separately as part of the Boundary election reporting.
School trustees acclaimed
Some school trustee positions were also filled without a vote.
Trail's election authority declared Terry Hanik and Mark Wilson elected by acclamation to School District 20 trustee positions. In Nelson, Murray Shunter was acclaimed for School District 8 Electoral Area 1.
Results from other West Kootenay school trustee contests are outside the scope of this report.
The federal government is renewing $30 million in funding for a national loan program that helps women start or expand businesses, with loans of up to $50,000 available through participating nonprofit organizations.