Voters in the Municipality of Meaford have elected a new council.
The polls closed at 8:00 pm, on election day, Monday, October 24, and at 11:00 pm, municipal Clerk Matt Smith announced the mayoral results via live stream on the municipal Youtube channel from the Meaford & St. Vincent Community Centre where the votes were counted.
Ross Kentner will be Meaford’s next mayor, capturing 2,063 votes, while his opponent Paul Vickers received 1,760 votes.
After the mayoral results were announced, Kentner offered some remarks.
“I want to thank everyone who voted for our ‘positive change’ campaign,” Kentner told the audience. “We appreciate your support, and your belief that there is a better way to do things.”
Kentner pledged to work collaboratively with municipal staff and council to “bring about positive change over the next four years.”
Smith noted that the 3,935 ballots cast represented a voter turnout of just 37.4 percent, down from 43.8 percent in the last municipal election in 2018, which saw 4,515 ballots cast.
Shirley Keaveney will return as Deputy Mayor after being acclaimed at the close of the candidate nomination period as she had no opponent.
Just before midnight, the results for the election of five regular members of council were announced by the municipal Clerk.
Of 12 candidates, the five elected to the next term of council are:
- Steve Bartley
- Tony Bell
- Brandon Forder
- Harley Greenfield
- Robert Uhrig
The unofficial results for council candidates are as follows:
- Steve Bartley – 2,328
- Tony Bell – 2,016
- Darryl Birch – 523
- Bill Cameron – 759
- Robert Doran – 456
- Eric Ennis – 1,620
- Brandon Forder – 1,936
- Hugh Grafton – 837
- Harley Greenfield – 2,248
- Mark Pietrowski – 417
- Andy Playter – 1,422
- Urhig – 1,818
Full election results and information can be found on the municipal website: https://www.meaford.ca/en/our-government/election.aspx
Meaford’s new council will take office on November 15, with their formal inauguration to take place on November 21.
