Six of the Yukon’s rural municipalities saw elections for mayor and council on Oct. 21. (For Dawson City results, see Page 4.)
Carmacks
Lee Bodie will return as the mayor of the Village of Carmacks – a position the incumbent has held for seven and a half years. Running against Bodie was Tara Wheeler, a Carmacks councillor since 2009.
When Bodie spoke to the News in early October, he said if re-elected he would like to finish the work that council has started – that includes finishing the arena.
Bodie also highlighted housing as an issue he and council will have to continue to find solutions too.
Earning the four councillor seats were newcomers Justin Lachance, Kevin Unterschute, Doris Hansen and incumbent Helena Belanger.
Haines Junction
Bruce Tomlin is the unofficial winner of the mayoral election in the Village of Haines Junction. Tomlin served on council from 2000-2009 and again from 2012-2016.
Of the 255 ballots cast, Tomlin received 157 votes. Kari Johnston placed second, receiving 77 votes and incumbent Thomas Eckervogt got 21 votes.
The winner of Haines Junction’s one council seat was Dianne Strand with 111 votes. Strand defeated Bill Karman, 43, and Rob Moore, 99. Angie Charlebois, Mark Nassiopoulos and Vicky Maynes were acclaimed into the other three councillor seats.
Watson Lake
Watson Lake’s voters gave incumbent Mayor Chris Irvin the go-ahead for another term. Irvin received 236 votes compared to 151 for Justin Brown, the only other man on the ballot.
The council for the southern Yukon town will be made up of returning councillors Lauren Hanchar and Thomas Slager as well as new faces Dale Burdes and Denina Paquette.
Hanchar topped the ballot with 316 votes followed by Slager with 267, Burdes with 254 and Paquette with 241. Beckie Ann Lussier, the fifth-place candidate, earned a total of 177 votes.
Teslin
With Gord Curran acclaimed as mayor for the Village of Teslin, voters there still had to select four councillors from the five councillors hoping to represent them.
Juanita Kremer had the most overall votes with 81. She was followed by Luc Johnstone with 69, Trevor Sallis with 68 and Jeff Myke with 58.
Faro
In Faro Jack Bowers was voted in as mayor. Bowers ran last year and lost after a tie breaker, but came out on top in this year’s rematch. The four elected councillors are Sarah McHugh, Leif Nyland, Taylor Fetterly and Paul Medvid.
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