LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Fort Simpson voters have spoken loudly and clearly by electing a new mayor by a substantial margin.

Sean Whelly was chosen as mayor of the village in the Oct. 19 election with 269 votes, more than three times the votes given to the incumbent. Duncan Canvin, who led a six-month interim council before being acclaimed in Sept. 2006, only garnered 87 votes.

While having breakfast at the Nahanni Inn on Tuesday morning, supporters Jessie Snider, left, and Dolly Tsetso congratulate Sean Whelly on his election as mayor. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photos

The winds of change, however, blew more lightly on village council. Voters returned six members of the current council to their seats, including Candy Brown, Gus Croatto, Bob Hanna, Marie Lafferty, Ron McCagg and Tom Wilson. The two new additions to the council are Celine Antoine and Stella Nadia.

Voter turnout was the highest that returning officer Rita Cazon has seen in all the years that she's run the village election. A total of 359 people out of approximately 850 eligible voters came to the polls.

"It was steady most of the day," said Cazon.

On Monday evening, Sean Whelly told Deh Cho Drum the election results in the mayoral race show that there's a strong mandate for change in the community.

"I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat humbled by the number count," he said.

Whelly, who was raised in Fort Smith before spending time in Yellowknife and Hay River, has lived in the village for approximately 28 years. For the past eight years he's worked as the loans and economic development officer for the Deh Cho Business Development Centre.

Whelly was on the village council for two years in the early 2000s. This is his first term as mayor.

Whelly said his campaign was based on being fair and working for everyone in the village. His platform included addressing quality of life issues in the village as well as smaller local issues.

Whelly said his mandate will focus on his campaign slogan "We can make life better." Although things aren't terrible now, there must be problems or people would have voted differently, he said.

His immediate goals include meeting with the new council to look at ideas for a one-year action plan for the village. The process will involve reviewing where the village is at and looking at the budget, said Whelly. Ideas will be shared with residents for their input, possibly through the format of a town hall meeting, he said.

Whelly said he'd also like to look further ahead and formulate a three-year plan so the council knows what it's been mandated to do. The village needs to set a course and direction so it can proactively address issues instead of tackling them when they become emergencies, said Whelly.

The mayor-elect said he also has his eye on the smaller things that the village is responsible for including making sure grass is cut in the ditches in the summer, garbage is picked off the streets and roads receive better maintenance. Big projects are nice, but it's the small day-to-day things that villagers see most often, he said.

"I want to make sure they are getting the best possible services," said Whelly.

Improving the services will involve working with the village's staff to set out policies and procedures to deliver the services more efficiently, he said.

In all of his plans Whelly said he wants to make sure residents are included in the municipal process. This will involve listening respectfully to any resident's concerns, he said.

"I want to bring a new air of civility to the council," he said.

The village councillors who have been elected reflect a good mix of experienced and new members, Whelly said, adding he's pleased that the two new councillors are both members of Liidlii Kue First Nation. Antoine and Nadia's presence gives the council more representation from the First Nation and makes the council more representative of the community as a whole, he said.