For the third straight term, Prince George voters have put their trust in Tim Bennett as a decision-maker on the School District 57 board of education.
The incumbent board chair topped the list as the most popular of the 11 school trustee candidates in Saturday's municipal election, gathering 6,825 votes as posted on the Regional District Fraser Fort George website as of Sunday at 1:12 a.m.
Prince George voters were asked to choose five of the 11 trustee candidates.
"Election night was a little nerve-racking - it took a little longer than expected for trustee results to come out but when they did it was a truly humbling experience to see the support the community has shown me, giving me the opportunity to serve for another four years," Bennett said. "November 6 this new board is going to be sworn in and we're going to have five of seven brand new trustees. This will also be the first time the board has elected representatives from Mackenzie and the Robson Valley, so it's going to be great to bring that team together. It's a very diverse team and we'll be able to come together and learn everyone's priorities."
Bennett said they'll be sure to address all needs throughout the school district.
"We need to come together to support all 13,009 students that make up School District 57," Bennett said. "We have a lot on our plate. I talked a lot during the campaign about the many local issues that we need to address, we have a lot of provincial issues on the horizon so it is going to be a steep learning curve for the team, but looking at who this community put together I'm confident that we can get started on that work and make it a really successful four years for the district."
Bennett, a long-serving executive director of the local chapter of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, was first elected as a trustee in 2011. The father of two has served as board chair since 2015. In his election platform, Bennett honed in on catchment areas and capacity issues in city schools as his top priorities.
Sharel Warrington was re-elected Saturday for a fifth term with 4,723 votes. Warrington, who chaired the board from 2011-14, was first elected in 2006.
Three new trustees were elected in Area 1 - Ron Polillo, Trent Derrick and Betty Bekkering.
Radio broadcaster Polillo, program director at 99.3 The Drive and 101.3 The River, in his first bid to become a trustee, locked up 5,318, taking a strong second place only to Bennett.
Derrick is no stranger to the political process, having run in the 2014 federal election as the Cariboo-Prince George NDP candidate. The owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in Spruceland Mall also ran for Prince George mayor in 2008 and during the school trustee election held Saturday gathered 4,852 votes.
Betty Bekkering took the last Prince George trustee position with 4,603 votes. Bekkering was seeking her second term as trustee, having served on the SD 57 board from 2011-14.
Incumbent Bruce Wiebe was defeated in his effort to secure a second term. The former elementary teacher/principal gained 3,989 votes.
The other non-elected candidates, with their voting results, were as follows:
Trudy Klassen (4,202), Sarah Holland (3,829 votes), Stephanie Mikalishen-Deol (3,408), Corey Walker (2,590 votes), and Allan Krantz (1,711).
In response to the province's new ward system to create more local representation, one trustee from Mackenzie and one from Robson Valley (McBride-Valemount) will also serve on the seven-member board. Shuirose Valimohamad was acclaimed in Mackenzie (Area 2). In the Robson Valley race (Area 3) race, Harold Edwards (434 votes) defeated Bob Thompson (402 votes).
