Dawson, Fenn, Lebans go down to defeat; Lonsdale tops polls in council race
John French
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Squamish New Directions is down from five members of District of Squamish Council to just two.
Mayor Ian Sutherland was re-elected Saturday night (Nov. 19) with the support of 54 per cent of the votes to beat his opponent Terrill Patterson - 2,261 votes to 1,925 for the veteran council-watcher and one-term councillor from the 1980s according to preliminary election results from the District of Squamish.
Sutherland said that despite his own re-election, he was disappointed because three the people on his team, Jeff Dawson, Sonja Lebans and Dave Fenn, did not receive enough support to return to their council seats.
"I sincerely believe that Sonja, Jeff and Dave did a great job for the last three years," Sutherland said. "I'm surprised and shocked. It was clearly an anti-slate vote, I respect that and will move on."
Incumbent Ray Peters, the lone SND councillor to be re-elected, said he was shocked by the results.
The highest polling councillor was veteran Corinne Lonsdale. She received votes from just more than 2,800 people, or 11.6 per cent of all votes cast for councillor.
Incumbent Raj Kahlon, who topped the polls in 2002, polled the next highest number of votes at just over 2,200 for 9.1 per cent support.Jeff McKenzie polled third with 1,955 votes (8.01 per cent).
Ray Peters of Squamish New Directions had the support of 1,755 voters (7.19 per cent) of the voters while Mike Jenson polled next at 1,636 (6.7 per cent).
Patricia Heintzman took the final councillor seat with 1,538 votes (6.3 per cent).
Larry McLennan finished in seventh position, only 27 votes behind Heintzman, with Bryan Raiser in eighth another 10 votes behind him.
Raiser was followed by Wilf Dowad, Sonja Lebans, Sheila Allen, Dave Fenn, Jeff Dawson, Mohammad Afsar, Jess LaFramboise and Adelaida Miranda.
"You have to give credit to the new people elected that they got the word out," said Peters. "Now a formation is pretty well built to move forward."
Dawson said he was surprised and it wasn't the result he expected.
"I wish them [new councillors] every success," he said. "I hope they make Squamish an even better place to be."
Lebans said the numbers disappointed her.
"I feel I did a good job and had something to offer," she said. "But I'm a very democratic person and believe in what people vote for."
Sutherland said his job now is to work with the new council to put together a team.
"The bright side is we have progressive people on council," he said. "My job is to work with the new council to find common ground. I don't want past judgments to get in the way of that. Hopefully the present council can look further than three years ahead. The past council did that."
A total of 4,598 votes were cast in the election - down 20 per cent from the last municipal election. The percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots was not available as of press time.
Preliminary results from the District of Squamish mayor and council races:
(Bold=elected, x=incumbent)
MAYOR
x-Ian Sutherland (SND) 2261
Terrill Patterson 1925
COUNCIL (6 elected)
x-Corinne Lonsdale 2827
x-Raj Kahlon 2223
Jeff McKenzie 1955
x-Ray Peters (SND) 1755
Mike Jenson 1636
Patricia Heintzman 1538
Larry McLennan 1511
Bryan Raiser 1501
Wilf Dowad 1473
x-Sonja Lebans (SND) 1465
Sheila Allen 1456
x-Dave Fenn (SND) 1434
x-Jeff Dawson (SND) 1333
Mohammad Afsar 1300
Jess LaFramboise 815
Adelaida Miranda 200
