Brandon voters have elected the city's first-ever female mayor.

Incumbent Mayor Dave Burgess has been pushed out of office by Shari Decter-Hirst, a former chairperson of Manitoba Public Insurance Corp.

Burgess had been mayor of Brandon for the past eight years. Before that, he was a city councillor for four years.

But Wednesday, Decter-Hirst garnered 7,037 votes to Burgess's 5,573. Voter turnout in Brandon was 46.5 per cent with 12,875 voters casting ballots.

"We all worked together to accomplish what we accomplished tonight — something that was going to be impossible," Decter-Hirst said in her victory speech before about 50 supporters.

"But it was impossible in no small part because you believed and acted as if it was impossible to fail."

Decter Hirst says the people of Brandon showed they are ready for big changes.

"I'm a very unusual package for a mayor in Brandon and the fact that people have so overwhelmingly decided to support that means that everyone is excited for the next four years."

Saving the sportsplex

Decter-Hirst said she's looking forward to working with a new city council. She said one of the first matters she wants to tackle is finding a way to save the city's sportsplex pool, which was one of her main campaign promises.

The pervious council under Burgess decided to close to aging structure shortly before the election.

Burgess went to congratulate Decter-Hirst at her campaign headquarters shortly after she had been declared a winner. He said he respects the decision of the public.

"I think there was a whole wind of change as you can see on city council and the school board. That can be very powerful and you have to accept that is the will of the people and be respectful about that," he said.

Burgess added that he's pleased with all he has accomplished in his eight years as mayor.

Changes in Portage, Dauphin

In Portage La Prairie, change was inevitable as incumbent mayor Ken Brennan did not run again. Earl Porter, who had previously spent eight years on city council, beat out two other candidates for the mayor's chair.

In Dauphin, the two highest-profile candidates — incumbent Alex Paul and former Tory MP Inky Mark — lost the mayor's race to lawyer Eric Irwin. Mark held the mayor's job between 1994 and 1997.

Paul had been arrested, questioned and then released without charge in the March 2007 death of his wife, Diane Paul. He has always denied involvement in the shooting death, which remains a mystery to this day.

Police have not charged anyone and have not recovered the murder weapon.

With files from The Canadian Press