City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto has won a fourth term and picked up enough council allies to give his slate a majority vote for the next four years.
Mussatto won with 5,488 votes, 52.5 per cent overall, beating challenger Kerry Morris who finished with 4,598 votes (44 per cent). Amalgamate North Van candidate George Pringle finished with 375 votes (3.6 per cent).
New to council is Holly Back, who ran with the support of Mussatto. The five incumbents who ran for re-election — Craig Keating, Linda Buchanan, Don Bell, Rod Clark and Pam Bookham — all soundly won their seats.
Mussatto led from the time the first poll closed but the atmosphere in city council chambers, where he and supporters gathered on election night, remained tense all evening.
The festive atmosphere in Morris’ Lower Lonsdale campaign headquarters turned downcast around 8:30 p.m. as word spread among his wall-to-wall supporters that their dissenting voice against development had come up short.
Despite the defeat, Morris urged his supporters to continue to fight against Mussatto’s agenda and request the mayor recuse himself in certain situations. “If not, the development frenzy will continue and there will be very little you can do about it,” Morris said.
While some Morris supporters blamed the loss on the long reach of the incumbent’s campaign, Morris accused Mussatto of running a “dirty tricks campaign.”
“Even if we didn’t win the day, in an unfair game, I think the community said very loudly what it didn’t want,” Morris said.
Pringle suggested his showing was largely due to strategic voting. “I think things polarized heavily to one or the other (Mussatto/Morris), knowing it was going to be a close race,” he said.
Asked what the result said about the hopes for amalgamation with the District of North Vancouver, Pringle responded, “Nothing.”
“Obviously it wasn’t a factor for the voters because it didn’t sway any votes one way or the other.”
Pringle vowed he’d return to council every Monday night “with a brand new blog and new icons and everything.”
Glad to have the election behind her, Back said she is excited to begin working with all council members, regardless of where they stood during the election.
“Even though, during the election, it looked like there were slates or teams, I’ve known most of those people for years and years so I look forward to working with all of them,” she said. “It will be nice to have four years of getting some work done and having a little fun with it too.”
Back said she is most looking forward to dealing with the eventual rebuild of the Harry Jerome Recreation Centre and hopes to see the project designed and a payment plan in place so shovels can be in the ground before her four-year term is up.
Mussatto declined to be interviewed by the North Shore News following his win.
Eligable voter turnout for the city hit 28 per cent, a jump from 2011’s 21.6 per cent.
Here are unofficial City of North Vancouver results:
Craig Keating – 4,485
Linda Buchanan – 4,646
Don Bell – 4,491
Pam Bookham – 4,392
Rod Clark – 4,354
Holly Back – 3,588
Non-elected candidates:
Kathy McGrenera – 3,515
Bill Bell – 3,346
Amanda Nichol – 3,316
Matt Clark – 3,113
Tony Valente – 3,102
Dorothy Bell – 2,900
Iani Makris – 2,095
Joe Heilman – 2,087
Via Fearnley – 1,805
John Harvey – 788
Dave Janis – 326
Ron Sostad – 231
Elected to represent the city at the North Vancouver school board are:
Susan Skinner – 4,576
Megan Higgins – 4,487
Christie Sacré – 3,016
Non-elected school board candidates:
Mary Tasi – 2,618
Antje Wilson – 2,302
Tanya Lahulek – 2,286
Bill Vassilis Papandreou – 1,535
