Maloney retirement opens up mayoral race
Only one commited to run in Port Colborne
There are only stirrings of who intends to run for Port Colborne’s top council seat, but there aren’t many clear commitments just yet.
Nomination forms for the municipal elections can’t be filed until May 1, so there is no official campaigning right now. All the same, the election is on people’s minds.
Mayor John Maloney announced earlier in the week that he will not be seeking re-election.
There is so far only one definitive answer of who is running for mayor. Port Colborne resident and Wainfleet Ald. Betty Konc announced her intentions in early January.
Otherwise, it’s a mixed bag of people who are undecided, currently not commenting and those who have said no.
Fred Davies, owner of several businesses in Port Colborne, including the recently opened Breakwall Brewing Co., is one of the undecided.
“I have been talking to a number of people in Port Colborne and around the region,” he said in an email. “I am encouraged with the level of support, but no final decision yet.”
Ron Bodner, current Ward 4 councillor and former mayor, is also on the fence. He was mayor from 2004 to 2006, and he said he very much enjoyed the position. He said a number of people have asked him if he is running again, so it’s something that’s on his mind.
“I really haven’t made any decision yet,” he said over the phone. “It’s just kind of there in my mind and we’ll see what comes up.”
Ward 3 Coun. Bea Kenny, who acted as deputy mayor while current Maloney recovered from health issues in 2016, said via email, “No comment yet.”
Bill Steele of CM Steele Insurance Brokers Ltd. also didn’t have any comment for this story, but said he would speak with The Tribune at a
later date.
Someone who was planning to run for mayor, but isn’t anymore, is paralegal Neal Schoen.
“I was actively preparing, but my life has taken a turn, and for personal reasons I will not be actively seeking election this year,” he said in a phone interview.
Schoen was Port Colborne’s mayor in the mid-1990s, a position that he said he loved.
That zest for the job is something he said made him originally consider running again, along with public support as people have suggested that he should.