Two incumbents lost their seats as Prince George chose a different demographic at the city council table.
Saturday night's local government elections saw a bolstering of Brian Skakun's base and the unseating of multiple-term councillors Cameron Stolz and Dave Wilbur for three new faces.
Topping the polls was Skakun, who raked in 12,674 votes, according to unofficial results. The official declaration of election results will be made by the city's chief election officer Walter Babicz by Wednesday.
Skakun said he was humbled by the level of support he received.
“I wanted to make sure I put in a hard effort again this time, but leading up to the election a lot of people told me they were supporting me so I felt good going in, but I wasn’t taking anything for granted,” said Skakun.
Murry Krause followed with 10,304 votes to earn his sixth term on council.
"It feels great," said Krause, who awaited the results at his home. "I'm honoured to have gotten to where I was in the polls; and for my sixth term, it's wonderful."
Krause said he didn't think it was anything about his campaign that would have tipped the scales in his favour. "I'm hoping it's the years of service and hopefully doing what people would hope I would do," he said.
Garth Frizzell was also returned to his council seat for the third time, with 8,773 votes. Frizzell's third-place finish was a boost from the 2011 election where he came in seventh. And it was accomplished, he said, with no money spent on traditional advertising - instead preferring to focus on his signs and reaching out through online media, like his blog.
It was on Frizzell's website that he posted an open letter to mayoral candidates Lyn Hall and Don Zurowski questioning whether they saw themselves as a "council mayor" or a "CEO mayor." The letter and the concept quickly became a talking point throughout the rest of the campaign.
"I'm really interested in what the new leadership of [Mayor-elect] Hall is going to be," Frizzell said. "We had two such good candidates and to hear that the one who most identified himself as a council mayor is going to be there, as a councillor now, that excites me. I'm very pleased to hear that my voice is going to be heard."
Incumbent Albert Koehler held on to his council seat for his second term, earning 8,022 votes.
Koehler said the race was tight and he didn’t know whether he should be confident. He learned the good news from his Blackberry while at the symphony Saturday night.
“I visited 90 per cent of all businesses in Prince George personally,” said Koehler, adding he thinks that made a difference. “I had good discussions for days on end running around.”
He said he stressed taxes, education and innovation, but he’s not sure what was in the end connected the most with voters.
“At council I tried to bridge the divide. Maybe our electorate has seen that as well. I tried not to be a confrontational person,” said Koehler.
Frank Everitt was also returned for his sophomore term on council, with 7,788 votes.
After three years with one woman at the council table in the form of Mayor Shari Green, Prince George voters changed the demographics at city hall. The three new faces in chambers will be Jillian Merrick, Terri McConnachie and Susan Scott.
Merrick, who just turned 30, is the youngest in the mix. And with 6,829 ballots cast in her favour, she is the highest vote-getter of the new recruits.
After hearing the results of the night's count, Merrick said she felt a sense of relief.
"All of my life has been focused on this one day," she said.
It was a campaign that initially began as a way to help inspire some change in the process as opposed to seeking a seat, Merrick said.
"A lot of folks from my demographic, they had political thoughts and ideas but they're kind of fed up with the process that they've seen over the last few years - don't really feel like they're much of a part of the political system or the democratic system," she said. "My running definitely gave them something very real to see themselves in and participate in."
But that evolved into a drive to actually be elected part way through.
"I started to notice a real shift around the types of feedback I was getting from people that were totally outside my own social networks and people that I didn't have any mutual friends or colleagues were reaching out to connect with me," Merrick said. "So then I thought, 'Okay, something really interesting is happening here.'"
McConnachie was still walking on air by the time she reached Hall's party headquarters at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club after celebrating the win with her family at home.
“I don’t think you ever expect it,” she said of the results. McConnachie earned 6,580 votes. “There were so many worthy candidates and I do mean that, so I’m humbled and so appreciative.”
McConnachie said she thinks her reputation as a hard worker resonated with voters.
“I think the turnout is demonstrative of the fact that folks really wanted change. There’s no doubt about it.”
Rounding out the night's votes was Scott, who bested Debora Munoz for the term's eighth spot by 95 votes.
"It feels good. It feels good," said Scott, who had 6,217 votes. "I knew that the time was right to step into this decision and I totally put it into the hands of the people of Prince George several weeks ago. So I did what I could and left the rest to the voters."
Scott said she was looking forward to working with the newly assembled group.
"I think all the way around the table it's going to be a good team and with the other gender involved, we're going to have more team building, I think, this time around, I really belive that," Scott said. "I think we need to open the lines of communication between city council, city staff, but also the citizens of Prince George."
