Letham re-elected Kawartha Lakes mayor
Former police chief fails in bid to be Ward 5 councillor
City of Kawartha Lakes voters have returned incumbent Mayor Andy Letham to City Hall.
Letham, of Cameron, won with 11,435 votes, ahead of Gord James who finished with 9,878 votes, Brian Junkin with 2,724 and
Peter Weygang with 1,007.
Eight councillors, down from the 16 councillors of past councils , were also elected:
• Ward 1 Emmett Yeo
• Ward 2 Kathleen SeymourFagan
• Ward 3 Doug Elmslie
• Ward 4 Andrew Veale
• Ward 5 Pat Dunn
• Ward 6 Ron Ashmore
• Ward 7 Patrick O’Reilly
• Ward 8 Tracy Richardson Recently retired City of Kawartha Lakes Police chief John Hagarty was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected to council, finishing third with 919 votes in a fourperson race in Ward 5, where Dunn won with 1,403 votes.
Because of computer problems with the internet voting system that were encountered around 6 p.m. Monday, the municipal election was extended until 8 p.m. Tuesday and the results were announced after that.
A total of 25,244 ballots were cast by internet, telephone and kiosk, with more than 2,000 cast during the extra day of voting.
In March 2017 the council of 16 members — eight of whom were elected for the first time in 2014 — and the mayor, voted 15-2 in favour of reducing the number of city councillors to eight. That was followed by a November decision to increase future councillors’ annual salaries by $10,000 each, a plan that passed by a margin of 10-6 (with one absence).
Councillors earn $26,898 currently, plus a $3,200 car allowance. After the 2018 election they will earn $41,065, including the car allowance and cost of living increase.
The change will save the city a total of around $109,000 annually.
Don Alton was elected as the Wards 1 and 4 trustee on the Trillium Lakelands District Public School Board, edging Frank Arnold by 2,339 votes to 2,084.
Acclaimed as trustees were Michelle Griepsma as the lone City of Kawartha Lakes representative on the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board, along with John Byrne for Wards 2 and 3 on the public board, David Morrison for Ward 5 on the public board, Judy Saunders for Wards 6 and 8 on the public board and Colleen Wilcox for Ward 7 on the public board.
In regional elections that covered a wide swatch of centraleastern Ontario, Sylvie Landry was re-elected as French public school board trustee and Roger Brideau was re-elected as French Catholic school board trustee.