“It feels pretty exciting.”

Those were the words of Mayor Dan Curtis Thursday night at city hall following the overwhelming victory that saw him returned for a second term, taking 4,640 votes in the municipal election.

Curtis’ closest competitor, Wilf Carter, who was running for mayor for the first time, drew just 835 votes.

The only other mayoral candidate, Mandeep Sidhu, who had also sought the mayoralty in 2012, took 437 votes.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Curtis said, stating the election was “democracy at its best,” with voters having choices for mayor and the six council seats.

He added he’s pleased to have the support of so many city residents.

Serving with Curtis on the next council will be incumbent councillors Jocelyn Curteanu and Betty Irwin, along with newcomers Roslyn Woodcock and Rob Fendrick, the city’s former director of corporate services.

Rounding out the team are former councillors Dan Boyd, who served from 1994 to 2000, and Samson Hartland, a council member from 2000 to 2003.

“I’m ecstatic,” Curtis said of the new council.

His first order of business will be “building the new team,” with a session already set for this weekend for the incoming council.

Curtis noted he’s pleased to have a council that has extensive experience at the city and represents a number of different backgrounds.

Fendrick, he noted, will bring a tremendous amount of corporate knowledge to the role.

The life-long city resident worked for the city for 17 years before he was fired without cause earlier this year by city manager Christine Smith.

Curtis went on to say he has no concerns about Fendrick working with city staff, noting Fendrick’s professionalism.

There’s no question that Fendrick is committed to the city of Whitehorse, Curtis said.

The mayor and his wife, Mona, arrived at council chambers at around 8 p.m..

They mingled with supporters, city staff, council-hopefuls and others – including Kwanlin Dün First Nation Chief Doris Bill – who had come to take in the results.

Waiting for the first results, Curtis said there was “no comparison” between Thursday and election day in 2012, when he was first elected as mayor.

That day in 2012, there was more fear of the unknown, he said. He had never run for mayor or council previously (though he had run for a territorial seat in 2011).

This time around, having the experience of 2012 behind him, Curtis said his emotions were perhaps more tempered.

“It came so quick,” he said of the election.

In a previous interview, Curtis commented that he did not have as much time this year to formally campaign as he had in 2012. That year, he took time off from his then-full-time position as executive director with Skills Canada Yukon.

Last night, he and others continued to keep their eyes on the large screen in council chambers that was scrolling past vote results.

As the clock continued to click, the screen continuing to reflect votes from previous years and polls.

Smith drew attention to the front of the room, informing those gathered there was a problem with the website.

City IT staff were doing everything they could to present the results as soon as possible, though it was unclear exactly how long that would be.

It was not a problem with the city’s new electronic voting system, Smith stressed.

Coun. John Streicker, who did not seek re-election, soon grabbed the plate of cookies he had put on the table at the front of the room and played host, wandering around the room offering the treats to those anxious for the data.

It was not long after that Jeff O’Farrell, the city’s manager of legislative services, announced the results of the advance poll, giving the first indication of Curtis’ pending landslide. The incumbent had taken 219 votes compared to 58 for Carter and 23 for Sidhu.

Over the next hour or so, city IT staff came in as new results arrived, providing updates via flash drives plugged in to a laptop and projected onto the screen.

Candidates and their families were quiet as they strained to see the numbers, some using their phones to grab a photo and then review the results.

Seated with his own laptop, Streicker and Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, worked on a spread sheet determining the order of the candidates based on votes.

Curtis’ position in front never changed as the numbers continued to pour in.

By 9:18 p.m., O’Farrell announced all the votes had been counted.

It marked the earliest time in Whitehorse history that the election results have been known, an announcement that was greeted with applause as the standings were read out.

Reflecting on his campaign, Curtis said overall he was pleased with the many emails and comments of support that came his way.

It was that support, he said, that helped him keep his cool when shots came his way, he said, stating he worked hard to “take the high road.”

While Curtis said he’s pleased voters had a number of candidates to choose from in the election for mayor, he said in this case, he does believe the best candidate was elected.

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