Greg Moore is back in the mayor's chair after he handily beat rival Eric Hirvonen in Saturday's election.
He and new councillor Laura Dupont will join five incumbents for the inaugural meeting at Wilson Centre on Dec. 1.
Monday, the city's chief election officer declared the winners of the Nov. 15 election. Carolyn Deakin put her official stamp on the top vote getters, including Moore and Dupont, plus incumbent councillors Brad West, Darrell Penner, Michael Forrest, Glenn Pollock and Dean Washington.
A thrilled Dupont credited her team for helping her become councillor.
"It's been fun, just like a roller coaster," she said of the race. And she pledged to fight for better transportation planning and more transit on behalf of PoCo constituents.
Moore said the need for more public transit was the main theme in the campaign. "It's the first time that I've heard transit as the number one issue rather than wanting more driving lanes," he said. "People want to see more buses and better connections."
Meanwhile, Coun. West topped the polls as he did in 2011, collecting 6,690 votes (three years ago, 5,219 ballots were cast in his favour).
Dupont earned the second position with 5,876 votes while 14-year councillor Darrell Penner - the chair of the city's transportation committee and a spokesperson for the Hyde Creek hatchery, took third spot with 5,844 votes.
Coun. Mike Forrest, the chair of the city's planning committee, won fourth spot with 5,349 votes and union-endorsed councillors Glenn Pollock and Dean Washington, who campaigned with West, held the last two positions, with 5,173 and 4,795 votes respectively.
Nancy McCurrach, who is on the executive board for the New Westminster and District Labour Council and had been door knocking for months to win a civic job, lost to Washington by 811 votes.
The voter turnout was 26% - an increase of 5% over the 2011 election, a city spokesperson said.
But while several incumbents retained their seats, a longtime councillor did not.
Coun. Michael Wright, a staunch arts advocate and a veteran of more than three decades of public service in Port Coquitlam, lost his seat. "It's come to an end," Wright told The Tri-City News, immediately after the results were published online Saturday, "but I think 33 years is a good run."
Wright said he'll be taking a break following the month-long campaign and enjoying some golf, but as for returning to city hall to take on citizen appointments, "I'm not going to commit to anything at the moment."
Wright also extended his best wishes to Dupont, saying she "worked extremely hard" to win a council seat.
The last council meeting for the incumbents is Nov. 24.
One key issue the new council will have to face is the planned Fremont connector which is expected to carry up to five times more cars during peak hours when Burke Mountain in Coquitlam is built out to 20,000 residents. Further consultation on the various options is expected in the new year.
@jwarrenTC
