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Darrell Giggie won his seventh consecutive term in the mayor's office Monday, beating Florenceville Coun. Paul Roy 467 votes to 165.

The election was the first for the soon-to-be amalgamated Town of Florenceville-Bristol.

After 22 years as Florenceville's mayor, he'll take on a new position July 1.

"It's gonna be interesting," Giggie said. "I am going to have to get the two villages on the same wavelength and get both wards thinking together, and it is going to be a challenge for the first couple of years."

Giggie said growing the business sector tops his agenda.

"We need alternatives besides our two big businesses, which are McCain (Foods Ltd) and Craft Lumber," he said.

The threat of either business pulling out of the community is scary, he said. McCain employs 1,000 people.

"We have to get our apples all out of one barrel because small municipalities are dying fast in this province," he said.

Merging Florenceville and Bristol will allow both areas to expand.

Florenceville, a town of 860, is running out of residential land, but Bristol still has undeveloped space.

"Residential is growing really fast and we need to encourage that," he said. "The merging of the towns is going to help that, too."

Six town councillors were also elected Monday night: Karl Curtis, Laurel Bradstreet and Duska Curtis were elected in Ward 1; and Susan Bushby, Joyce Trafford and Nancy Whyte-McCauley were elected in Ward 2.