Municipal election draws many candidates

Municipal elections are gearing up across the province as the October 24 election day draws closer. The deadline for nominations was Friday, August 19, which turned the unofficial list of candidates into the certified list of candidates.

The four local municipalities have an array of candidates and voting methods going into the campaign season.

Leamington, Kingsville and Pelee Island will be vote-by-mail only, while Chatham-Kent will employ internet voting, vote-by-mail and in-person voting on election day.

The Southpoint Sun will run candidate bios beginning in mid-September.

Several new faces are on the list for Leamington council in the upcoming municipal election with three vying for the mayor’s seat, three for deputy mayor and 16 candidates have registered to run for five council chairs.

For Mayor, the incumbent Hilda MacDonald is running once again, with challenges from Cris Biron and Jimmy Simoni.

The Deputy Mayor race will be contested by incumbent Larry Verbeke, who is being challenged by John Tofflemire and Shelly J. Quick.

As for council positions, incumbents Bill Dunn, Heather Latam, Paul Tiessen and Tim Wilkinson are up against challengers Anthony Abraham, Tara Adams, Gerald Barros, Derek Friesen, Christine Lehn, Dave Metcalfe, Christine Montgomery, Oscar Ramirez, Corey Robertson, Isaac Schmitt, Kyle Sousa and Mark Stevenson.

Doris Sauve is the only candidate for the French Separate School Board, while Mary DiMenna and

Derek Thachuk are running for the English Separate School Board. For the Public Board, Nancy Armstrong is running against Aimee Omstead.

There will be lots of competition for Kingsville council in the upcoming municipal election.

Three will vie for the Mayor’s seat, left empty with the departure of long-time Mayor Nelson Santos in July, while there are two candidates for Deputy Mayor and 11 council candidates for five positions.

In the Mayor’s Race, Laura Lucier will run against Tamara Stomp and Dennis Rogers.

Incumbent Gord Queen will face a challenge from Kimberly DeYong and Sam Zad for his Deputy Mayor’s chair.

On Council, incumbents Tony Gaffan, Thomas Neufeld and Larry Patterson will face off against

Scott Collier, Michael DelCiancio, Willy Fittler, Michael Glass, Debby Jarvis-Chausse, Sheri Lowrie, Les McDonald, Tim Seech, Gideon Spevak, Brandon Stanley and Barry Wilson. There are five seats available.

Mary DiMenna and Derek Thachuk are running for the English Separate School Board, while Didier Marotte is running for the French Separate School Board.

As for the Greater Essex County District School Board, three candidates are in the mix, with Julia Burgess taking on Sherry Ducedre and David Adam Keller.

In the Chatham-Kent municipal election, three candidates will battle for the Mayor’s seat, with incumbent Darrin Canniff getting challenges from Andy Fisher and William Pickard.

In the Ward 1 Councillor race (Wheatley, Tilbury,

Merlin), incumbent Melissa Harrigan will face newcomers Lauren Anderson, Sandy Maynard and David Serednicki. Two seats are available.

Ward 1 English Public School Board candidates are D. Randy Campbell, Angela Richards and Chris White.

Ward 1 English Separate School Board candidates are Ben Vanden Hengel and Brenda Rumble.

Doris Sauve will be the French Separate School Board candidate in Ward 1.

On Pelee Island, the race for mayor is a two-candidate contest with Larry Bailey and Cathy Miller facing off for the top job.

Stephanie Briggs-Crawford, David DeLellis, Dayne Malloch, Sherri Smith Ouellette and Michelle Taylor are all vying for a seat on council.