NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Of the six communities that held municipal elections Oct. 19, five have new mayors with three of those voting out their incumbent leaders.

Hay River voters selected Brad Mapes over sitting mayor Andrew Cassidy.

"I think it's a great feeling," Mapes said shortly after learning the results, thanking those who helped his campaign, including his family.

"I'm very humbled by the support the community gave me and excited."

Mapes, a 52-year-old businessman and single-term town councillor, received 60 per cent of the vote. Cassidy campaigned on his record and improving quality of life in the community. Mapes sought to improve economic development and pushed a vision of increased transparency for decisions made at town hall.

He said one of the first things he wants to work on is fixing the fiscal situation of the community.

"I think we have to give good, clear direction to administration to how we control spending of the town," he said, adding council has tended to micro-manage

the town.

He plans to step away from his business interests now that he's been elected mayor.

"It's disappointing," Cassidy told reporters after the votes were counted.

"You hope that you're going to be successful and it didn't happen this time around."

He wished the next council luck, saying he believes the town is in good hands.

In Fort Simpson, the village will move forward this year with incoming Mayor Darlene Sibbeston at the helm.

Sibbeston won with 234 votes against incumbent Sean Whelly and fellow challenger John Dempsey.

The newly-elected mayor currently works as a probation officer in Fort Simpson and has previously sat on village council. She is also a current member of the Fort Simpson Metis Nation board of directors.

Sibbeston said in an e-mail interview that she put her name in so the community would have a choice when it came time for voting, instead of the mayoral position being acclaimed for a second election in a row.

"Then there were three of us, which (was) even better for our community," she said.

Sibbeston campaigned on a platform of transparency and said her top two concerns include river bank erosion and replacing ancient water and sewer infrastructure that often breaks during winter months.

"Instead of reacting to (water breaks), let's be proactive and start things one step ahead," she said.

The Fort Simpson municipal election saw nearly a complete turnover of coucil, with only two incumbents retaining their seats. Larry Campbell and Bob Hanna will continue to serve on the eight-seat council.

In Inuvik, interim mayor Jim McDonald defeated councillor and former mayor Derek Lindsay in the municipal election.

In August, Floyd Roland exited the mayor's chair to focus on his campaign for MP with the Conservative Party.

"It's a really exciting time for me," McDonald said Oct. 20, awake and alert despite what he called a very short night.

"I wasn't thinking too much about it before, but it got a bit emotional yesterday, just thinking about my parents and the legacy they left."

He said after four generations in the community, he believes residents can see his own commitment and that of his family.

"I'm feeling good," he said.

"It looks like I had a lot of support from the community but with that comes high expectations. It's a change but I've been working for a living since I was 15 years old; I'm certainly not afraid of hard work."

Not everyone is as confident the new mayor will be able to get the job done. Lindsay said that, although he congratulated the mayor-elect and council, he's "disturbed" with what he says amounts to the institution of a part-time mayor's position.

"The town has had the wool pulled over its eyes with this part-time mayor business," he told News/North Oct. 20.

"There is no director of economic development right now to handle the (former petroleum) conference. There's no staff there right now who have done a conference, so it's up to the mayor to step up and run it, and I don't think it can be done by the mayor working part-time."

McDonald responded by saying he has committed to getting the work done, just not necessarily during office hours, and hopes to save the town some money on his salary to boot.

"I'm not going to be in the office all the time, but I did make a commitment to put in whatever time is required," McDonald said.

"These things don't always happen between nine and five anyway and maybe I can save the town some money."

In Norman Wells there was no municipal election.

This is because mayor and council were acclaimed. Nathan Watson was named to the mayoral seat with Heidi Deschene, Lise Dolen, Pamela J. Gray, Sherry Hodgson, Gregor H. McGregor and Tim Melnyk filling council seats.

In Fort Smith, voters chose to vote out incumbent mayor Brad Brake in favour of Lynn Napier-Buckley.

Voter turnout was extremely high, said Margo Harney, the town's returning officer. It was estimated to be just under 80 per cent, well above the average in the rest of the territory.

"I think having the federal election and the municipal so close together in proximity, we had them in aligning gyms and that helped get voters out," Harney said.

"I think we just have very interested public and the candidates and the issues get them out. People like to express their opinions and make their votes count, people are engaged."

Outgoing mayor Brake, who had been mayor since 2012, was taking his loss in stride.

"No big deal. It was my sixth election loss at least, this one and five union elections to the best of my memory," he said.

"I honestly think I did a really good job with all the things we were tasked with. It happens. Such is life and I've taken harder hits."

Brake said he will use the extra time he now has to spend with family. He also said he wants to work off some of the weight he gained while mayor.

In Yellowknife, Mayor Mark Heyck was re-elected to a second term with Rebecca Alty, Niels Konge, Linda Bussey, Steve Payne, Rommel Silverio, Shauna Morgan, Adrian Bell and Julian Morse elected to council.

- with files from John McFadden, April Hudson and Sarah Ladik

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