Amy Lubik took her place at Tuesday's (Nov. 1) inaugural meeting of Port Moody council.
She didn't expect to be there.
On election night, Oct. 15, Lubik lost her seat at council to David Stuart by two votes.
A city recount confirmed the result on Oct. 19.
But a judicial recount of ballots cast at two polls — one at the Heritage Mountain Community Centre and another at Kyle Centre — resulted in the two candidates finishing tied, each with 3,597 votes.
So, according to section 151(2) of the provincial Local Government Act, the name of each candidate was put onto a slip of paper and the judge presiding over the recount pulled one from a container.
Lubik told the Tri-City News taking her oath of office Tuesday capped a rollercoaster two weeks of uncertainty and mixed emotions.
"You're contemplating what you might accomplish on council while also trying to figure out how you’re going to make an impact on community health and homelessness from other avenues," she said, adding the decision to seek a judicial recount wasn't easy.
"When there were a number of irregularities found in the initial rescan, it just made me wonder with such a close outcome."
Lubik said the recount process, which was attended by her campaign's financial agent, Neal Nicholson (a former Coquitlam city councillor) and lawyer Sebastien Anderson, was stressful.
"You feel like Schrodinger's candidate," she said, referencing a German physicist known for his thought experiment about whether a cat in a box is dead or alive until the box is opened to know for certain.
"Truthfully, having my name pulled out of a hat was somewhat surreal," Lubik added.
Now that her second term on council is a reality, Lubik said she’s looking forward to collaborating with her colleagues — most of them new to civic government.
"I hope we can find ways to assess our own leadership qualities and skills and bring them together constructively."
Lubik added council’s new composition, with six women and one man, also gives her hope for more inclusive and representative decision making.
"It will be our task to bring the community together in a seemingly increasingly polarized world."
