Former alderman Turnbull back in the fold
In third place among the council hopefuls was Phil Turnbull with 7,393 votes. He had previously served on council in 2010 for one term.
“I’m extremely honoured,” said Turnbull. “I’m going to work as hard as I can, based on my platform.”
Reducing the operating costs of the city is a key point in that platform to make up the deficit, he said.
“The mayor won’t call it a deficit but when you’re short a dividend of $23 million ... I think the next four years are critical for our city,” said Turnbull.
Incumbent Julie Friesen took fourth place with 7,056 votes.
“I think there will be a good balance on council,” said Friesen, who said she believes the public is looking for fresh new ideas.
Darren Hirsch, who was an alderman from 2004-2007, received 6,957 votes and won a return to council.
“I’m feeling pretty grateful,” said Hirsch, who said he feels the public is looking for fiscal accountability.
Underlying issues that emerged as themes throughout the campaign include public transit, said Hirsch.
“I always contended that that was an underlying issue of a larger problem in terms of decisiveness on this council,” said Hirsch, adding the decision to return to the old transit system after a public outcry was “hasty.”
Jim Turner has been elected to council for a second term, having garnered 6,393 votes. He feels public transit was one of the big issues.
“Even people who don’t use transit, they had family members or friends who were affected by it. It was probably more of an effect than most people realize,” said Turner. “I certainly hope we get this back running as soon as we can.”
Brian Varga has also been re-elected to serve a second term, with 6,115 votes. He said he believes the issues this election were public transit and the arena.
When all the votes were counted, Jamie McIntosh was also re-elected for a second term with 6,083 votes.
That Bill Cocks and Les Pearson were not re-elected was a surprise to many, but that there are new people on council comes as no surprise to McIntosh.
“It just seems to be the political will at this point,” said McIntosh, who said he believes public transit was an issue throughout the campaign. “Change seems to be in the air all the time and the electorate decides what happens. I very easily this night could have been on the outside looking in. I guess I am thankful that I wasn’t.”
Look for poll-by-poll results in the coming days in the Medicine Hat News and online at www.medicinehatnews.com.