Mark Sager has been elected mayor of West Vancouver for a four-year term.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 15). With 6,082 votes, Sager won the race handily, beating incumbent Mary-Ann Booth who finished with 2,833, former council member Marcus Wong (2,436) and real estate agent Teresa De Cotiis (80)
Sager ran on a campaign of preserving quality of life for West Vancouver's current residents, respecting neighbourhood character and keeping a close eye on local taxes. He's also promised to expand the Blue Bus to include an on-demand van service to take passengers from the bus stops to their homes.
“To our constituents, I've got to say: my most sincere thanks. You've given me a great honour and I look forward to serving you and hope we can bring the community together," Sager said following his landslide win.
Those elected to council are incumbents Nora Gambioli, Sharon Thompson and Peter Lambur, newcomers Linda Watt and Scott Snider, as well as Christine Cassidy, who served one term on council from 2014-2018.
At their post-election party in Ambleside, Sager introduced his allies Lambur, Watt, Snider and Thompson as the "core" of the new council.
“I think we're going to have a lot of co-operation. I think we will work to consensus. We will be looking to make sound decisions for the whole community,” he said.
Sager said he was surprised by the scale of his win, which he said is likely an indication of the community's desire for a more collegial council.
"The message that we took everywhere we went is we may not always agree, but we are always going to be respectful of one another. And that really resonated everywhere we went. People said we just don't want bickering," he said.
West Vancouver's was a closely watched mayoral race. Sager lost to Booth in 2018 by just 21 votes. Sager, a lawyer by trade, previously served as West Van's mayor from 1990 to 1996.
Bill Soprovich, who has won a seat on council in every election since 1997, lost his re-election bid.
At the West Vancouver School District, four of the five incumbent trustees won re-election: Lynne Block, Carolyn Broady, Nicole Brown and Dave Stevenson. Challenger Felicia Zhu joins the school board for her first term and incumbent Sheelah Donahue did not win re-election.
Here are the unofficial election results:
West Vancouver mayor:
Mark Sager - 6,082
Mary-Ann Booth - 2,833
Marcus Wong - 2,436
Teresa De Cotiis - 80
West Vancouver council:
Linda Watt – 5,643
Peter Lambur -5,206
Sharon Thompson – 5,103
Scott Snider – 4,809
Christine Cassidy – 4,446
Nora Gambioli – 3,968
Ken Schultze – 3,382
Bill Soprovich – 3,340
Claus Jensen – 3,102
Keen Lau – 2,701
Elaine McHarg – 2,634
Alexis Chicoine – 2,325
Amir Alavi – 1,609
David McCosh – 1,354
Eileen Buchanan – 1,295
Tyler Blair – 1,263
Rima Martinez – 1,015
West Vancouver school trustees:
Lynne Block - 6164
Carolyn Broady - 6118
Nicole Brown - 5844
Felicia Zhu - 5411
Dave Stevenson - 4814
Sheelah Donahue - 4675
Election results will be considered unofficial until staff recount the ballots on Monday and the election officer signs off. The new council will be sworn in on Nov. 7.
