Mayor George Bridge’s successful re-election in the Oct. 27 election earned him a place in the municipal history books as the first two-term mayor here.
For election results click here.
Since amalgamation in 1999 the town has been led by a series of four different council heads who lasted only one term each.
“I’m very humbled that the ratepayers of Minto have given me another four-year term. Because it’s been good,” said Bridge in an interview after results were confirmed on election night.
Bridge was challenged by current deputy mayor Terry Fisk and came out on top by a count of 1,976 votes to 1,368.
Deputy mayor candidate Ron Faulkner, a current councillor, was acclaimed to the position.
Veteran councillor David Turton led all candidates for that position with 2,109 votes, followed by former deputy mayor Judy Dirksen, who lost at the polls in 2010 after a lengthy stint on council, with 2,048.
Incumbents Mary Lou Colwell and Ron Elliott were also elected with 1,943 and 1,879 votes respectively. The fifth councillor is Jean Anderson, who polled 1,625 votes to finish ahead of the next closest candidate, Geoff Gunson, who attracted 1,391. Candidate Don Senek was next with 1,157 votes, followed by Nicola McEwan with 984 and Ed Bodnar with 414.
Bridge said he felt the results were a reflection of a generally satisfied electorate. Vacancies for councillor positions were created when incumbent Rick Hembly elected not to run and Faulkner moved up to fill the deputy mayor spot vacated by Fisk – and all incumbent councillors were returned to office.
“When I was out there most of the people were pretty happy with what the council had done. It was a pretty good team effort. It’s always tough when we lose one of the members of the team like Terry, and Rick retiring, but the people we’ve got on now, they bring some great skills to the table,” he said.
Among Bridge’s plans for the coming term is to work with council to determine the 10 worst roads in all three towns and the township “and figure out which ones we’re going to go at with this new infrastructure money that’s coming from the province and the feds.
“If we can get some of that we can do a little more than we’ve been able to in the past,” said Bridge, who said he’d also like to hold a pubic meeting to get citizen input on the most-needed projects.
Fisk, said he knew he was taking a political risk by challenging the status quo.
“I knew when I decided to run that there was a risk there, and I was willing to take that risk. I trusted the voters in Minto to make the right decision and they’ve decided I’m not the person for the job and I can accept that,” stated Fisk, who added he felt the new council “will get along fine without me.”
“We were a new group last time. There were only two incumbents,” he pointed out.
Anderson, a nurse, said she plans to advocate for the local health care system in the coming term, “keeping it vibrant and alive. I don’t think we’re going to go very far as a community without that.”
She also said she wants to help with economic development initiatives.
“Let’s see if we can fill up some of these storefronts, get people to stop in this beautiful community and spend some money and spend some time with us,” she said.
Turton was optimistic about the make-up of council.
“I think they’ll work together exactly the way things the last four years have worked and the four years before that. We all work for the betterment of our community,” he said.
“I think that we need to continue down the same path as we have for the last eight years. Our industrial parks are filling up and I think that’s good. There’s all kind of housing starts in all three towns, some even in (the former township of) Minto. So I think that’s all good,” he added.
Voter turnout in Minto was 55.2 per cent, with 3,441 ballots cast.
