Several municipal councils in Manitoba are welcoming new faces around the table following Wednesday's municipal elections. According to initial statistics compiled by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM), 48 percent of those elected are new to the job while 30 percent were acclaimed.

AMM Executive Director, Joe Masi says the high rate of change-over is due to a combination of new people defeating incumbent candidates, and also replacing those that did not seek re-election. "It's a fairly significant turnover of our membership," he explained.

Masi noted this means AMM will need to make sure training for these newly elected officials is front-and-centre, as well as ensure these new officials have the tools they need to be successful.

A training session for newly elected officials will kick-off the organization's annual convention in Winnipeg at the end of November. Masi added AMM has also emailed out a copy of the municipal handbook created in collaboration with the Province of Manitoba, a hard copy will be handed out at the convention as well. Ultimately, he says these new officials will learn by networking with others in the field.

Masi added however, this high change-over means there will be some change in leadership within the organization at the upcoming convention.

Not only will votes be cast to fill the President and two Vice President posts, but there will also be elections in 6 of the 7 AMM districts due to a number of directors being unsuccessful in their municipal election bids, or because they didn't seek re-election in general.