A Granisle resident with previous local government experience has been elected to the village council.
Kathy Bedard will fill the seat that became vacant when councillor Tom Liversidge passed away earlier this year.
She and the other councillors and the mayor will serve until next fall when all of the council seats and that of the mayor come open for a four-year term.
Bedard received 61 votes when ballots were counted once the polls closed Nov. 6.
She defeated Al Fournier who had 27 votes and Merrietta Skold who had 13 votes.
The estimated turnout was 35 per cent of registered voters based on 101 people voting out of an electoral roll of 282 names, says returning officer Lorna Eftodie.
Bedard will be sworn in by village chief administrative officer Sharon Smith at the beginning of the December 1, 2021 regular council meeting, Eftodie added.
Bedard, 72, has lived in Granisle full time since 2015 but was a frequent visitor before that thanks to having family in the village.
Although retired, she does do consulting and a recent project was crafting a land use plan for the Village of Granisle and writing a report on seniors housing which formed the basis of recent efforts to provide that kind of housing in Granisle.
Bedard has considerable local experience from her previous home in Prince Rupert — being a City of Prince Rupert councillor and a school trustee for more than 20 years.
During the campaign she said her focus would be on attracting people and businesses to Granisle.
Speaking following her byelection win, Bedard said her focus will be as she described during the campaign — attracting people and business.