Incumbent mayor Karen Sorensen has been re-elected to Banff’s top job in the first mayoral race since 2004.
With 946 votes and taking 50.3 per cent of the vote, she defeated challengers Jim Abelseth who received 703 votes and Cynthia Anderson, who secured 211.
“I am honoured and grateful and certainly I thank the residents of Banff for their support and the vote of confidence for me continuing to lead in this role,” said Sorensen.
“I would say Jim ran an excellent campaign and he was out there looking for votes and the work paid off for him with a very successful number of votes… I still received over 50 per cent of the total vote.”
Sorensen, who had served a previous two terms as a town councillor, was acclaimed as mayor in 2010, while John Stutz stood unopposed for mayor in the 2007 election.
“I think elections are good and our society embraces democracy,” she said.
“Overall for me, being elected is a positive thing, though when I was acclaimed I felt it was a vote of confidence based on my record as a councillor.”
Abelseth, who came in second place, received 37.8 per cent of the vote and Anderson received 11.3 per cent.
Anderson said she believes it was a great mayoral race and congratulated Sorensen on her win and acknowledged Abelseth’s hard work on the campaign trail.
“I think all the candidates worked really hard,” she said.
“I know I represented a small portion of our community, but I was quite delighted that between Jim and I, we were able to get almost 50 per cent of the vote.”
Anderson said her election campaign was a great opportunity to raise awareness about issues such as an increase in the number of large-scale special events.
She also indicated she would like to see more fiscal transparency with Banff Lake Louise Tourism, especially given the Town of Banff contributes about $4 million to the tourism bureau through business licence fees.
She argued the contract to market the town should be publicly tendered.
“It was a great chance to get people talking about issues that people aren’t really comfortable talking about,” said Anderson.
“It was a great experience and I am glad I did it – but I am glad it’s over.”
Abelseth, who was the only candidate in Banff to put out election signage, said he was “a little bit disappointed” with the election results.
“I’m in pretty good spirits, but it’s important to note that 900 people didn’t vote for the other side – 700 voted for me and a couple of hundred for Cynthia,” he said.
Abseleth said he heard many concerns while on the campaign trail from people unhappy with certain directions, such as large-scale special events, and unnecessary expenditures on “wants instead of needs.
“I am not a politician. I am more of a concerned citizen. We have four generations of immediate family and we want to stay, and we don’t like the direction things are going,” he said.
“What I heard while out walking the trenches is a message that is fairly loud and clear – there are very concerned people still out there and I hope the new council listens to that.”
Sorensen said the issues important to residents are not new, including fixing Banff’s pressing transportation and traffic woes and addressing a housing shortage.
“This next council needs to actually start implementing and executing strategies and plans to make a difference in some of these concerns,” she said.
“I believe the studies done in the current term are crucial so we can make the smart and right decisions in terms of implementation moving forward.”
Sorensen said she looks forward to getting down to business with the four incumbent councillors who already know the ropes, as well as the two new faces of Ted Christensen and Corrie DiManno.
“I am delighted we have some consistency, myself included. Having some experience at the table, a certain portion of the group that has some history, some knowledge, is a very good thing,” she said.
“It’s also great to have some new blood looking at issues with fresh eyes. Fresh eyes can question why things are the way they are and it causes us all to reflect.”
Chip Olver was first elected to office in 1994 and is Banff’s longest serving councilor, and Sorensen said Olver brings a great knowledge of governance and history to the council table.
“Chip is always able to bring to the table where a topic has been in the past, which helps us understand where we need to take it in the future,” she said.
Sorensen was also impressed by DiManno’s win. The 26-year-old local journalist took the second highest number of votes with 1,310, trailing behind top vote getter Stavros Karlos by a mere six votes.
“How well Corrie did against the incumbents is an incredible story,” said Sorensen.
“Diversity is important and I love that we have people who might be considered younger on our council. I put Stav (Stavros Karlos) in that category, too.”
The election results are considered unofficial until noon on Friday (Oct. 25) when they will be posted by the returning officer on the Town of Banff’s website.
