Sicamous voters went to the polls Saturday looking for change, giving a sweeping win to mayoral candidate Malcolm MacLeod.

Unofficial election results available at press time indicate Malcolm MacLeod has won the mayoral race with a total of 488 votes, followed by Jack Andrews with 210 votes and mayoral incumbent Lorraine March with 196 votes.

Results for council show political newcomer Heidi DeWitt topping the polls with 665 votes, while fellow newcomers Jerry Silva received 503 votes and Lonnie Jones 405. Former mayor and councillor Fred Busch received 595 votes, while incumbents Lynn Miller and Ken Thomson were re-elected with 433 votes and 409 votes respectively.

A re-count held Monday confirmed the above results.

Out of 2,000 eligible voters, 44.7 per cent visited the polls to cast a total of 894 votes.

Asked if he was surprised with his sweeping victory, MacLeod said he was, a little, though he was more taken aback by the result for the incumbent mayor.

“I think there is a message there for sure,” commented MacLeod. “Lorraine… felt she was doing the best she could, and I think she really did, from her point of view – mine being quite a bit different.”

March says she isn’t surprised so much as she is disappointed by the election results, which have left her doubtful she’d consider running for office again in another three years.

“The community has delivered a very clear message to me, so I don’t know if I have anything that the community wants,” said March. “If things change over the next three… I’ll take a look at it.

The message from the community is clear to fellow mayoral candidate Jack Andrews.

“I think the community really is happy with the way things are going,” Andrews commented. “My whole campaign was around change, and I think by those elected to council and to mayor, the people of the community don’t particularly want change.”

Andrews said he too was a little disappointed in the election results.

“I thought we had the chance to turn things around, to slow down the development and to make it a little bit more responsible to what the community has been expressing,” said Andrews. “So yeah, I was a little bit surprised.”

Busch too sees in the outcome of the mayoral race a message to the new council. But his interpretation is different to that of Andrews.

“I think it says to us as a council that the community wasn’t necessarily happy with the direction the previous council had been going in, and I think a lot of it had to do with development and the pace of development…” said Busch. “We should be slowing down development, giving it a second and third look instead of seemingly rubber stamping any development that came in front of them.”

As for his own success this time around, Busch said he looks forward to working with the new council, making available his experience for fellow councillors new to the political game to draw upon.

DeWitt, Silva and Jones view their wins as a vote of confidence from the public.

“The next three years will be a huge learning experience, but one that I look eagerly towards,” said DeWitt, whose sentiment was shared by Jones and Silva. “I look forward towards working with our new mayor, and all my fellow councillors in guiding Sicamous into the future.”

Successful incumbents Miller and Thomson said they were pleased to be given another opportunity to represent the community.

“There are still a lot of things that I think are important in the community and hopefully council will agree and we can get some of those things done,” said Thomson.

Coun. Diana Stooshnov, the one incumbent in the running who did not make it back in, said she is relieved that the election is over, adding she looks forward to focusing her time and efforts on her volunteer work in the community.

“I’ve just poured my life into it for seven years,” said Stooshnov, referring to her time on council. “I need to get a life, and this is an opportunity to do that.”

Overall, MacLeod is pleased with the makeup of council, of the new perspectives and experience.

“I think it’s going to be a good group to work with, and I think Sicamous has done well,” commented MacLeod.