The results are in and the political landscape in several municipalities across the region will be changing dramatically.

Unofficial results were unveiled shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 22 across Huron. Neighbouring county’s municipalities, however, faced difficulties with their online election systems, resulting in an extended deadline. Those problems were faced across Ontario by many municipalities.

NORTH HURON

North Huron will have a completely new council sworn in this December with challenger Bernie Bailey posting a convincing win in the race for the reeveship over incumbent Neil Vincent. Bailey claimed 1,337 votes to Vincent’s 588.

Blyth Ward will be represented by newcomers Kevin Falconer (338) and Ric McBurney (255), edging out David Onn (166), Terry Brake (14) and Brad Carther (five).

East Wawanosh Ward was captured by Anita Van Hittersum (254 votes) and Chris Palmer (234), beating Alice McDowell (174), John Brown (118) and Jordan Hodgins (80).

Wingham Ward challenger Paul Heffer claimed 934 votes, earning a council spot alongside incumbent Trevor Seip (628). The two beat out incumbent Yolanda Ritsema-Teeninga (277) and Agost Vaday (231).

Pascale Thibodeau captured two votes for the French Public School Board trustee position.

North Huron posted a 50.7 per cent turnout rate. Of 3,852 voters, 1,948 cast their vote.

HURON EAST

Incumbent Mayor Bernie MacLellan received 1,414 votes, beating challenger Caitlin Gillis’ 1,200 votes.

Brussels will be represented by incumbent John Lowe (264 votes) and newcomer Zoey Onn (263) votes. Current councillor David Blaney was ousted, capturing 161 votes.

Incumbents Dianne Diehl (360) and Alvin McLellan (352) will continue to represent Huron East’s Grey Ward, beating out challenger Curtis McKinnon who earned 176 votes.

In Huron East’s McKillop Ward, incumbent Brenda Dalton and Gloria Wilbee, mother of outgoing councillor Kevin, were acclaimed.

Incumbent Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler and Councillor Bob Fisher were acclaimed to represent Seaforth while incumbent Tuckersmith Councillors Ray Chartrand and Larry McGrath were also acclaimed.

Emilie Sylvain-Lindsay took two of three votes for the French Separate District School board in Huron East, with Louis Guimond taking the last and Sylvie Chmielewski capturing 0. Two voters abstained.

With 2,743 ballots cast, 37.6 per cent of Huron East’s 7,022 electors voted.

MORRIS-TURNBERRY

Morris-Turnberry’s Deputy-Mayor Jamie Heffer was acclaimed to the position of mayor as outgoing council head Paul Gowing decided not to run again.

Morris-Turnberry’s wardless system saw incumbents Sharen Zinn (734 votes) and Jim Nelemans (563) claim two of the four councillor seats. Challengers Kevin Freiburger (665) and Jamie McCallum (614) claimed the remaining two spots. 

Incumbent Dorothy Kelly (516) and challengers Michael Miller (345) and Andrew Somers (281) failed to get elected.

Of Morris-Turnberry’s 2,897 Voters, 1,088 cast their ballot, representing a 37.6 per cent turnout.

Chmielewski received the only vote for the French Separate District School Board trustee position from Morris-Turnberry. 

CENTRAL HURON

Mayor Jim Ginn in Central Huron ran unopposed and was acclaimed to the position.

Deputy-Mayor David Jewitt successfully defended his position, garnering 1,349 votes while challenger Jared Petteplace received 865. 

Incumbents Marg Anderson (1,111), Alex Westerhout (966) and Dan Colquhoun  (836) will continue to represent East Ward, having beat Jeff Scholl (818).

Alison Lobb (600), Adam Robinson (510) and Michael Russo (477) will represent Central Huron’s West Ward, having edged out Mike Belford (373).

In the French Public School Board trustee race, Thibodeau captured two of three votes with Turdel capturing the last.

One voter abstained from voting for the French Separate Catholic School Board.

Of 6,797 electors, 2,255 (33.2 per cent) cast a vote.

ASHFIELD-COLBORNE-WAWANOSH

In Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (ACW), Councillor Glen McNeil was acclaimed as reeve for the municipality and incumbent Deputy-Reeve Roger Watt also held his position.

The two at-large councillor positions were claimed by Gloria Fisher with 1,341 votes and Anita Snobelen (1,264) who edged out Murray Curran (1,155).

Incumbent Jennifer Miltenburg was acclaimed in the Ashfield Ward.

In Colborne Ward, Bill Vanstone claimed victory with 625 votes to Peter McKee’s 217. Wayne Forster (239) bested Paul Bollinger (198) for the Wawanosh Ward seat. 

Sylvain-Lindsay and Louis Guimond both claimed one vote for the Catholic Separate School Board trustee position with one voter abstaining.

Of 5,786 voters, 2,095, or 36.2 per cent cast a ballot in ACW.

GODERICH

John Grace ousted incumbent Kevin Morrison and challenger David Yates in the race for Goderich’s mayor. Grace claimed 1,940 votes to Yates’ 1,042 and Morrison’s 895.

Myles Murdock claimed the deputy-mayor position with 1,474 votes, beating out Michele Hansen (1,380 votes) and former Mayor Delbert “Deb” Shewfelt (982).

Councillors for Goderich include Matt Hoy (2,989), Trevor Bazinet (2,970), James Donnelly (2,703), Stephen Dwayne Tamming (2,200) and Shawn Thomson (1,373). Phil Neill (1,326) failed to get elected.

BLUEWATER

Former Huron-Bruce MPP Paul Klopp ousted incumbent Tyler Hessel in the mayoral race with Klopp 2,259 votes to Hessel’s 1,491.

Incumbent Deputy-Mayor Jim Ferguson held his position with 2,184 votes to challenger and former Mayor Bill Dowson’s 1,531 votes.

Hay West will be represented by Alwyn Vanden Berg (397) who bested John Gillespie (253). Scott Harris (229) will represent Hensall, having defeated Marnie Hill (117). Stanley East will be represented by Peter Walden (324) who defeated Bob Montgomery (210). In Stanley West, George Irvin (250) narrowly edged out Taylor Van Aaken (224).

Also in Bluewater, John Becker was acclaimed as councillor for Hay East. Shawn LaPorte was acclaimed for Zurich following the withdrawal of Janisse Zimmerman’s nomination and Bill Whetstone was acclaimed in Bayfield.

The In the race for French Sererate School Board, Sylvain-Lindsay captured six votes while Guimond and Chmielewski earned two each.

HOWICK

Doug Harding claimed the Reeve position in Howick, capturing 806 votes. He defeated Rosemary Rognvaldson (174 votes) and Robert Clarkson (162 votes).

Eldon Bowman was named Deputy-Reeve with 542 votes. He defeated challengers Randy Scott (514 votes) and Mike Starenky (73).

Doug Hargrave (800), Megan Gibson (709), Bob Illman (569) and Linda Henhoeffer (344) were elected to Howick’s four councillor positions, beating out Marvin Grimes (330), Marg Sanburn (316) and Paul Martin (97).

SOUTH HURON

Incumbent Maureen Cole failed to be re-elected as South Huron’s mayor. George Finch captured a convincing win, earning 2,257 votes to Cole’s 1,198, Dave Frayne’s 532 and Tom Oke’s 56.

Jim Dietrich captured the Deputy-Mayor position with 2,533 votes to Craig Hebert’s 1,318.

Marissa Vaughan (938 votes) and Dianne Faubert (520) will be representing Ward 1, having defeated Greg Elliott (442) and Darlene McKaig (440).

Ward 2 will be represented by Aaron Neeb (1,453 votes) and Barb Ferguson Willard (1,166), having defeated Wayne DeLuca (630) and Toby Clipperton (548).

Ted Oke (325) will represent Ward 3, having bested Paul Passmore (191).

SCHOOL BOARD

REPRESENTATIVES

On the school board front, Colleen Schenk has been acclaimed as the North Huron area’s Avon Maitland District School Board trustee, while Robert Hunking has been acclaimed as the Central East Huron trustee for the school board.

For full school board trustee results, see next week’s issue of The Citizen.