Tania Tapsell, Raj Kumar and Sandra Kai Fong secured the most votes, followed closely by newcomer Mercia Yates.
School-leaver Fisher Wang also joined the ranks and will hopefully prove age and experience are not prerequisites for making sound decisions in local body politics.
It's also clear a person's name and reputation carry more weight than campaigning, with Kumar and Kai Fong doing little in the way of electioneering.
But the most interesting result to me was re-elected mayor Steve Chadwick's public rival gaining a councillor seat.
Reynold Macpherson making it on to council means three Rotorua District Resident and Ratepayer group members will have an official stake in the council agenda.
Is it a surprising outcome? Not really.
The votes Macpherson secured for mayor were similar to the number he secured for councillor, with an extra 40 votes for the latter.
Those extra votes could well have been people voting for both Chadwick and Macpherson in the hopes the pairing will provide some balance on the council given they have very different views on how the city should be run.
It's an utopian view of how local councils operate but it could be possible if the pair commits to ending their long-standing rivalry.
I fear the more likely outcome is three years of bickering around the council table and on social media.
But I also hold out hope that two intelligent, experienced people, albeit from different backgrounds, will put their differences aside to do the job they're there to do - serve the Rotorua public.
Voter turnout is proof locals have no faith in the system. So prove them wrong. Prove to the city's residents that exercising their democratic right will get us a council that can make our home a better place to live.
It's time to put differences aside. There's a job to be done.
