Municipal general elections for Provo mayor and City Council seats were held on Tuesday with 18 percent of voters participating in the mayoral election.

Newly elected city officials said they plan to address issues facing BYU students and want to improve relations between students and Provo City.

John Curtis won the Provo mayoral election, beating Steve Clark for the position. Curtis won by a margin of 577 votes as of late Tuesday.

Curtis said he plans to direct early attention in his term to working with students.

“I’m going to meet with BYU leadership as soon as possible to bring BYU students into Provo politics,” Curtis said. “We need to invite them and make them feel loved and needed in our city.”

Recent BYU alumnus Sterling Beck defeated Cindy Richards in District 5.

Beck said BYU students were motivated to participate in the elections by issues directly affecting them.

“When students get involved they can have an amazing influence on politics,” he said.

Beck graduated from BYU in August. He had no intention of running for office, but became involved after wanting a fresh perspective in his district’s politics.

Laura Cabanilla won the citywide council seat. She defeated Coy Porter.

“I want to work with BYU closer so that we can establish a strong relationship,” Cabanilla said. “The city hasn’t done much in the past, and I’m going to change that.”

Rick Healey defeated David Acheson in the District 2 race.

“I absolutely have important plans to work with students and make good things happen,” Healey said.

Some of the newly elected officials said the election was divisive.

“There may be some negative feelings coming out of this election, but we need to leave those behind us,” Cabanilla said.

Before taking office in January, Curtis will work in an unofficial capacity to improve relations in the city.

“The most important thing now is to unify the city,” Curtis said.