PARKSVILLE — Current city councillor Mary Beil will move to the head of the table in the coming weeks.
Preliminary results announced by the City on Saturday, Oct. 17, confirmed Beil was elected as Parksville’s new Mayor after serving the current term as a councillor, earning 2,401 votes.
Beil beat out current City Councillor Joel Grenz (1,977) and Mike Butler (475).
“It feels pretty amazing,” Beil said after NanaimoNewsNOW broke the news to her she’d won. “I’m just so grateful to the people of Parksville, to everyone who came out to vote and my family and friends who supported the campaign, whether it be with food, money or time, volunteers.”
Beil replaces Doug O’Brien who opted not to seek re-election following his first term as Mayor.
Joining the new Mayor at the council table will be Amit Gaur, Shelly McCullough, Sean Wood, Adam Fras, Ralph Tietjen and Frank Bailey.
Incumbent Sylvia Martin was the first one to miss out, calling 96 votes short.
In the Town of Qualicum Beach, Adam Walker prevailed with 2,774 votes, over incumbent Teunis Westbroek (1,786) and Nessa Cybalisty (119).
“I’m just overwhelmed, it’s been incredible chatting with people at the doorstep and hearing the desire to keep Qualicum Beach Qualicum Beach, but there’s a lot of things we need to keep moving forward on. To see this incredible support from the community…I’m humbled,” Walker said after his win.
Walker’s new-look Council will include Mischa Oak (3,483), Donald Couzens (2,598), Scott Harrison (2,505) and Anne Skipsey (2,476).
The Mayor-elect plans to meet with his new team as soon as possible in a bid to ensure the group is pulling in the same direction.
“The big things is creating a team, making sure everyone on Council feels they have purpose and are actually making a difference in that role,” Walker added.
Results announced Saturday are preliminary and may change slightly during verification early next week.
It’s expected the final results from the 2026 Municipal Election will be announced on or before Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Follow us on Facebook. Join Everything Nanaimo on Facebook and stay connected with everything happening on central Vancouver Island.
Follow us on: Twitter (X) | Bluesky | Facebook
