Al Siebring is the new mayor of the Municipality of North Cowichan.
Siebring, who has spent almost a decade on council, won the mayor’s position with 3,017 votes, just 10 votes ahead of long-time mayor Jon Lefebure, who had 3,007 votes in the preliminary results.
Joyce Behnsen, the third candidate for mayor, took 1,874 votes.
The new council includes Rob Douglas, who took 4,223 votes, Kate Marsh with 3,821 votes, Christopher Justice with 3,486 votes, Tek Manhas with 3,010 votes, Rosalie Sawrie with 3,009 votes and Debra Toporowski with 2,916 votes.
Siebring was first elected to North Cowichan council in 2008. Since then he’s served under two mayors and worked with a dozen different councillors.
He said winning with just 10 votes is closer than he would have liked at the end of election day.
But he said he intends to get to work as quickly as possible to get the business of council on track under his stewardship.
“I intend to meet with CEO Ted Swabey first thing on Monday morning to develop strategies for the new council, and then I will meet with each individual councillor to determine what committees I will want to put them on,” Siebring said.
“This council is an interesting mix of people, and I’ve gotten to know some of them during the election campaign. Nobody comes to the council table looking to make things worse for North Cowichan, so I’m looking forward to good things for our community. It should be an interesting four years on council.”
Siebring is a former radio broadcaster and a past president of the BC Conservative Party.
Lefebure said election results have been close in the past, including two elections ago when he won by just 16 votes, but the results of this election won’t likely change.
“I think Al will make a great mayor,” he said.
“He also has a good council and I’m sure they will all step up to the job.”
Lefebure said he will step back from politics and work on building projects with his brother.
“Building is the other side of my life and I now intend to work hard at that.”