Don Wiebe will serve a third term as reeve for the Municipality of Rhineland.

He was elected by acclamation last week when no one stepped forward to challenge him.

"I do appreciate the community support and the support from the councillors and staff. I'm looking forward to working with the community in moving Rhineland on a path toward prosperity, making it a good place to live, learn and play."

Wiebe feels this election will mark a new chapter of sorts for Rhineland with the loss of some veteran councillors.

Paul Peters, who has served on council for about 23 years and Bernie Bergen who has 16 years of experience are not running for re-election.

"They were both very involved in the municipality, they worked very hard and we will miss their enthusiasm for the work and for their insights," said Wiebe.

Those retirements and a change in Rhineland's ward system will give council a slightly different look.

The municipality has gone from a six ward system to just three wards to better reflect the changes that were made through amalgamation. That move has also reduced the number of council seats from eight to seven, with two councillors representing each ward plus the reeve.

Incumbent councillors Archie Heinrichs in ward 2, and John Dueck and Jake Heppner in ward 3 will return to council after being elected by acclamation last week.

The new face at the table will be June Letkeman representing ward 2. Letkeman becomes the first ever female councillor to serve Rhineland.

In ward 1, Larry Fehr is challenging incumbent councillors Brad Braun and Mark Ratzlaff for one of two seats in that ward.

"We'll have some new faces coming in, and for the first time there is a woman on council. Moving forward, I think we have a good core of people and I'm optimistic that we'll have a very progressive and hard working council."