The ballots have been counted and Beiseker residents have elected a very similar council to last term.
All councillors will be returning to oversee the village’s operations except Fred Walters, who elected not to run for re-election citing personal reasons.
Replacing the longstanding councillor, will be newcomer David McKenzie who earned 135 votes to secure the fourth seat.
Current Mayor of Beiseker Ray Courtman earned 180 votes, Councillor Warren Wise collected 170 votes, Councillor Karen Ursu with 163 votes and Deputy Mayor Al Henuset rounded out the bottom with 102 votes.
Leo Louwerse and Steve Williams did not earn enough votes for a spot on council with 83 and 60 votes respectfully.
According to the Village, Oct. 21 saw a 40 per cent voter turnout, numbers of eligible voters were not known as of press time.
“I’m impressed that I qualified,” McKenzie said. “I thought there were really good candidates. I think it was the fact that I wanted to make improvements to Beiseker, to make it self sufficient and profitable (that helped me get a seat on council.)”
McKenzie campaigned on the idea of promoting home-grown contracts to utilize the skilled labour already in Beiseker, rather than contracting out services to Red Deer or Airdrie.
It was a close race for the most votes earned, veteran councillor Warren Wise came just 11 votes shy of the top spot of Courtman.
“There was a fairly close count for first and second place,” he said. “That really surprised me that I got that many votes.”
Wise believes it was his dedication to the village that helped earned him the votes.
“I relate well to the people here of all ages and try to listen to their problems,” he said. “I just work hard at trying to do things for the village.”
In the coming term, Wise said he would like to continue to maintain the infrastructure in the town – by repairing sidewalks and roads.
Wise is excited with the addition of McKenzie to council, adding his “likeable personality” will go a long way this coming term.
The Village of Beiseker held its first council meeting with the new council on Oct. 28.
All results are unofficial. Official results were not available before press deadline.
