WHITE ROCK — Wayne Baldwin has been re-elected by the voters of White Rock with almost double the number of votes than challenger David Bradshaw.
According to preliminary results, Baldwin came out with 3,225 votes to Bradshaw’s, 1,640 cruising to victory an hour after polls closed Saturday (Nov. 15) night.
Baldwin said he was optimistic about working with the new council and anticipated they'd be able to accomplish good things for the city. Asked how he felt the campaign went, the mayor said he was surprised at the amount of disinformation being spread throughout the community.
"I saw that there was a lot of fear an anxiety and false stories being made up," said Baldwin. "One was about 22 highrises being planned by city hall that are ready to go as soon as certain people are elected — which was totally false. Whoever was generating these notions were preying on people’s fears."
The mayor also said he was surprised by the number of votes his opponent received after the final tally.
"It showed me there are people whose fears outweigh anything else," said Baldwin.
Incumbent councillors Helen Fathers, Grant Meyer and Bill Lawrence will also be returning, joined by Lynne Sinclair, Megan Knight and David Chesney. This will be Sinclair's second time on council, and the first for Knight and Chesney.
Fathers topped the councillor vote with 2,457, while Meyer and Sinclair came in second and third with 2,420 and 2,279 respectively.
Running as an independent, Fathers said she felt the work she'd done in the community over the past few years helped her come out ahead of the others.
"I’m very active in the community so it’s very nice to see that paid back to you in the time of voting," she said. "One always hopes to do well in the polls but I think any position you get in is great."
Knight, who first ran in the 2012 White Rock byelection came fourth with 2,125 while Lawrence came in fifth with 2,039.
After running in six elections for a spot at the council table David Chesney finally secured a seat as the final member with 1,982 votes.
Fathers and Chesney were the only independent councillors to be elected, while Meyer, Lawrence, Sinclair and Knight were all part of the White Rock Coalition. Doug Hart and Cliff Annable also ran as part of the coalition and despite them not being elected, Meyer said the team was eager to get to work at the council table.
"We worked hard and though it would have been nice to get one or two of our team back on we’re happy with the results," he said. "We stayed out of the mud slinging and that kind of thing, we ran a clean campaign and that paid off."
Meyer added that while the coalition does command the majority vote on council, it's going to be business as usual for how meetings play out.
"Every vote is a free vote, no one is forced to vote a certain way and the four of us aren’t going to get together and have a caucus meeting before the council meeting," he explained.
Dennis Lypka missed election by less than 100 votes at 1,850 while incumbent Al Campbell was not re-elected with 1,646.
Baldwin said he'll miss Campbell's presence at the council table.
"Generally speaking, it’s hard to beat incumbents and Al was a strong incumbent and I’m going to miss him and his point of view," said Baldwin.
Voter turnout was up in White Rock this year, with 5,085 eligible voters (34 per cent) coming out to the polls. In 2011, only 30 per cent voted.
Trustee Laurae McNally was acclaimed the Surrey School Board in October.
For the full list of results, click here.
Offical results will be announced November 19.