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Four incumbents re-elected to School District 70 in Port Alberni

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District board will have a new look
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The School District 70 board has been decided.

Larry Ransom, Pam Craig, John Bennie and Rosemarie Buchanan have all been re-elected to the board. New trustees include Connie Watts and Christine Washington for the Port Alberni seats.

On the west coast, Sandra Leslie won the seat over Sally Mole—both new candidates. The west coast seat was vacated when Gurmail Aujla retired. A seat also opened up in Port Alberni with the retirement of longtime trustee Pat Dahlquist.

Incumbent trustee Rosemarie Buchanan was happy to be re-elected.

“There’s still a lot of things I feel I need to participate in. I’m really happy with the election of Connie Watts; I’m really sad to see Jane (Jones) go, but I think her four-year legacy will be carried on by Connie,” Buchanan said.

“It’s going to be interesting to work with the other new trustee, Chris Washington, as well.”

Buchanan said the board will be able to continue some of the work they had already started, especially dealing with downloading from the previous provincial government, such as transportation cutbacks. “We need to bring through the BC School Trustees’ Association that news to the current government because I’m sure all that got lost in the shuffle.”

Buchanan said she will work to see First Nations graduation rates improve through a mentoring program with one of teacher Anne Ostwald’s classes.

As well, “I would like to see more work done with kids who are coming from homes that are challenging so that they have a higher success rate in the school system.”

Larry Ransom was also happy to be returning to the school board.

“It’s great that the voting public thought well enough of us to re-elect four of us from the previous board,” he said shortly after the results were announced, but before the west coast results were tallied.

”It’s great to have two new members of the board come on.”

The final regional district race, in Area C (Long Beach) was finally announced, and Kel Roberts was the winner by three votes over incumbent Tony Bennett.

These results are considered preliminary until a final count is done next week, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District chief electoral officer Wendy Thomson said. A declaration of official results must be done before 4 p.m. on Oct. 24, she said.

In Cherry Creek and Long Beach, where the margin was so slim, candidates may “strongly encourage an informal re-count,” Thomson said, reciting election rules. Otherwise, a re-count is at the chief electoral officer’s discretion.

Dianne Bodnar has won the Area F (Cherry Creek) directors’ seat for the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District over Darren DeLuca by five votes.

“Wow,” Bodnar said just after hearing the news at the ACRD boardroom.

I’m a little stunned,” said Bodnar.

“I appreciate that they (electorate) trust me. This is my first official elected office. I plan to do my best in working with the people that live in the Cherry Creek regional district.”

Bodnar came in with 179 votes and DeLuca had 174. ACRD chief electoral officer Wendy Thomson said the slim margin would not necessarily mean an automatic re-count.

John McNabb has been re-elected in Area E (Beaver Creek). Penny Cote has been re-elected in Area D (Sproat Lake). Tanya Shannon has been elected in Area B (Beaufort).

Results for Long Beach have yet to be finalized.

For school board, Pam Craig leads with 3,091, Larry Ransom has 2,578, Connie Watts 2,475, Rosemarie Buchanan 2,212, Christine Washington 2,109, John Bennie 1,847. Cherilyn Bray has 1,842, Karrine Magnussen has 1,658, Rebecca Standley 1,460, James Brook 1,475 and Jane Jones, 1,584.

•••

Pam Craig and Larry Ransom are leading the School District 70 trustees after advanced voting, Bamfield and the City of Port Alberni polling stations have reported.

Craig tops the list so far with 2,970 votes and Ransom with 2,476.

Christine Washington has 2,034, Connie Watts 2,377 and Rosemarie Buchanan 2,126. John Bennie has 1,777.

Other results so far include Karrine Magnussen 1,607, Cherilyn Bray 1,769, Rebecca Standley 1,402, James Brook 1,442 and Jane Jones 1,497.

There are nine polls in total in the ACRD and the ballots are being hand-counted at the ACRD office.

The ACRD office is open for the public to come and watch the results; so far trustee candidates Rosemarie Buchanan and Jane Jones are waiting for results in the board room. Cherry Creek candidate Dianne Bodnar is also on site.

•••

The polls have closed in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and ACRD chief electoral officer Wendy Thomson and deputy chief Shelli Lyle are busy hand-counting mail-in votes. Results have come in from one of nine ACRD polling stations, in Bamfield.

Bob Beckett has been acclaimed as regional director for Area A (Bamfield), but residents were busy voting for school trustees.

John McNabb is the preliminary leader in Beaver Creek (215 votes) over Celia Stocker (123 votes), with advanced polls and Beaver Creek polls counted.

Tanya Shannon is leading in Area B (Beaufort) with 64 votes over Ted McGill (45 votes) and John Adams (6 votes).

In Sproat Lake Penny Cote is ahead of Don Anderson 293 to 144 with advanced voting and Sproat Lake polling stations counted.

Dianne Bodnar has won Cherry Creek with just five votes over Darren DeLuca. (Alberni Valley News)

Who is running for school board?

There are 11 people running for six seats on the School District 70 board in the Alberni Valley and two people running for the west coast seat (Ucluelet and Tofino). Larry Ransom, Pam Craig, John Bennie, Karrine Magnussen, Cherilyn Bray, Rebecca Standley, Christine Washington, Connie Watts, James Brook, Jane Jones and Rosemarie Buchanan are running for seats in the Alberni Valley.

Who is running for regional district directors?

Area B (Beaufort): Tanya Shannon, John Adams, Ted McGill

Area D (Sproat Lake): Penny Cote, Don Anderson

Area E (Beaver Creek): John McNabb, Celia Stocker

Area F (Cherry Creek): Darren DeLuca, Dianne Bodnar

For all of our stories on the municipal election, click here.

Check out our website and Facebook page for full coverage of the results starting after the polls close at 8 p.m. PT.



Susie Quinn

About the Author: Susie Quinn

A journalist since 1987, I proudly serve as the Alberni Valley News editor.
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