Incumbent mayor Janet Evans has won another term, her third, as mayor of the District of Sooke. The win came November 15 over contenders Rick Kasper who had served on the outgoing council, and local businessman Randy Welters.

Evans led the way with 1597 votes; Kasper earned 1284; Welters, 413.

The district saw a voter turnout of about 43 per cent.

“I feel very honoured,” said Evans following Saturday’s election. “I’ll work hard with the new council.”

“The voters are always right,” said Kasper.

Welters said he felt the council changes were positive.

“If I didn’t win I’m glad Janet won,” he added. “I found the process a little frustrating. There weren’t enough questions in the all candidates meeting.”

Councillors Sheila Beech and Ron Dumont (1,835 and 1,586 votes, respectively,) managed to keep their seats while Brenda Parkinson and Rick Armour will not be a part of the new group to be inducted on December 1. Councillor Jen Smith had decided not to seek re-election.

Fresh faces on council are Dave Bennett, Maja Tait, Bev Berger and Herb Haldane.

I’m quite pleased,” said Beech amid the victory hubbub at the Evans’ home, quickly offering congratulations to David Bennett for his strong showing in receiving 2,559 votes, highest total accumulated by any of the candidates, and Maja Tait, who was second in votes tallied with 1,980. “The other people who have come through are going to be new and refreshing.”

Ron Dumont was surprised by council’s loss of Parkinson and Armour. “I thought they would have done really well,” he said from the victory party attended by Evans and Beech, “they’ve done a good job and I’m surprised they got beat out. Maybe we’re moving in a different direction, we’ll see.”

Bennett’s hard campaigning did not instill any over-confidence in the candidate, as he related.

“I was a bit on edge,” he said of the wait for the numbers. “I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. It’s been a very interesting experience as a political neophyte.”

“I’m okay with it,” said Brenda Parkinson (1,523 votes) after the results were in on Saturday night. “I’m okay with everything. It’s time to take a break.”

“I’m in a state of shock as a result of having totally expected to be re-elected,” disclosed Rick Armour (1,464) on Saturday night. “I really don’t have a plan B, I wasn’t expecting to have a lot of free time on my hands.

“I think I worked as hard as I possibly could,” Armour continued. “I’m pretty satisfied with the fact I gained approximately 250 votes since the last election, that tells me I actually gained support in the community.”

Kasper said he felt Evans and her newly elected team would work very hard on behalf of the citizens of Sooke.

Bev Berger (1,532) says she’s excited, “I think with the people who got in it’s going to be a fantastic three years, and I’m really eager to learn. I’m blown away with the support I got in Sooke.”

“I don’t think it could have played out any better for me,” said councillor-elect Herb Haldane (1,648). “The right people are gone now.” Haldane says he thinks the four newcomers and the incumbents will work well together.

It’s the “opportunity to be involved in the community” that Maja Tait was looking forward to on election night. “I’ve only been here for two-and-a-half years and I’ve met a lot of wonderful people and there’s just so many good ideas out there.”

Meanwhile in the race for the CRD Juan de Fuca regional directorship having been been held for the past number of years by Erik Lund, candidate Mike Hicks took top spot with 832 votes to the 705 by veteran alternate director Ute Schnarr.

“I wish Mike (Hicks) the best,” said Ute Schnarr of her successful competitor for CRD regional director, “and that the communities get the fresh, positive change they asked for.”

Hicks indicated a readiness to tackle a sizable workload as regional director.

“This is pretty major, with major issues,” he said. “I don’t know quite what to expect. I’m cautiously excited.”