Nine ward councillors seek return in the Rose City
There are nine ward councillors in Welland hoping to hold onto their seats after the Oct. 22 municipal election.
There are two representatives for each of the city’s six wards. Three current politicians have other plans after the fall.
Mark Carl, councillor for Ward 1 since 2010, will not seek reelection due to a career change, moving from the position of executive director of the Hope Centre to take on the lead role at Habitat for Humanity Niagara.
Pat Chiocchio will be giving up his Ward 4 seat as he is registered as one of four candidates vying for two regional councillor positions in a race that also includes incumbents Paul Grenier and George Marshall.
Ward 5 Coun. Mike Belcastro, also president of Seaway Mall, will also not have his name on the ballot. He was appointed to council in 2017 after the resignation of Mike Petrachenko last August.
Also in the regional race is Leanna Villella, a local travel agent and two-time Progressive Conservative candidate for Niagara Centre in the most recent federal elections.
Mayor Frank Campion will face challengers David Clow and Steven Soos.
Clow was a local Green Party candidate in the 2015 federal election and Soos also ran for the same party that year in the Niagara Falls riding, as well as for Ward 6 in Welland’s 2014 municipal contest. Soos also ran for the Trillium Party in June’s provincial election.
There are seven candidates in the Ward 1 race, including incumbent Mary Ann Grimaldi, former Fort Erie regional councillor and executive director of Niagara Safety Village Shirley Cordiner, Robin Comtois, Ryan Huckla, Holly Syer, Adam Moote and Tom Bacolini.
Ward 2’s contest involves both incumbents, Leo Van Vilet and Dave McLeod, as well as challengers Debi Katsmar Serge Daoust and Brad Ulch.
John Mastroianni and John Chiocchio, Ward 3 incumbents, are joined by John Thomas McNall and Lucas Spinosa in the same race.
Ward 4’s contest will see incumbent Tony DiMarco go up against challengers Maria Lallouet, Melissa McGlashan, Bryan Green, Charles Owen and Phill Gladman.
Ward 5 incumbent Claudette Richard is running against Devin Paul James St. Jean, Graham Speck, Niki Ann Brideau, Ken LeBlanc and Leslie Robichaud.
Jim Larouche and Bonnie Fokkens hope to hold onto their Ward 6 seats, challenged by Mike Konderka, James Takeo and Jamie Lee.
Running for local District School Board of Niagara trustee are incumbent Sue Barnett and Lisa Mooney. The Catholic board’s lone candidate is Paul Turner.
Véronique Emery is the only person registered in the French public board’s local trustee race, and Jo-Anne Thibodeau has no challengers in the French Catholic board’s contest.