Hamm wins third Magog mandate

Magog’s incumbent mayor Vickimay Hamm handily won a third mandate Sunday night Hamm defeating her two opponents, Marc Delisle and Johanne Bouchard by a margin of over 3,000 votes. She will see some new faces at the council table, however.

Hamm will face several major issues when she returns with her new council, including the downtown Magog revitalization plan, the second ice project and the new water treatment plant in the Omerville area.

Joining Hamm at City Hall is Jeanfrançois Rompré who eked out a victory in a close race in District 1 with 516 votes, just ahead of Georgianne Gagnon (510) and incumbent Robert Ranger (435). Ranger has represented the Southière sector since 2009.

In District 2, it was second time lucky for Bertrand Bilodeau who took the district by a majority of 112 votes.

Bilodeau, who worked for 34 years for the City of Magog was making his second attempt at election in four years. In 2013, he was defeated Jacques Laurendeau by fewer than a hundred votes (641 - 569). This time, with 809 votes, he defeated businessman Renaud Légaréin his first experience in politics with 69)

Bilodeau served as a commissioner on the Des Sommets school board for 20 years, including 12 as vice-chair. During the coming term, he intends to tackle finances to see if the Municipality really has the means to carry out all the projects currently on the table.

In District 3 (Omerville), incumbent Yvon Lamontagne defeated Gino Gaudreau by a vote of 618-585. This will be Lamontagne’s third term.

In one of the more intensely followed campaigns, incumbent councillor Nathalie Pelletier won District # 7 by defeating Jean-guy Gingras in the only race that saw two sitting councillors vying for the same seat. In a three way-race that also included Claude Bolduc, Pelletier came out on top with 607 votes, compared to Gingras’ 406 and Bolduc’s 96.

This is a third victory in as many campaigns for Pelletier, who during her last term was Chair of the Urban Planning Advisory Committee and the Committee on Human Resources.

The completion of the new master plan, the work in the downtown area and the development of the Mont-orford ski resort of are some of the issues that are closest to her heart.

Other winners in Sunday’s vote were Samuel Côté (district 4), Nathalie Bélanger (district 5), Diane Pelletier (district 6), and Jacques Laurendeau (district 8).

The overall participation rate, including advanced voting and write-in votes, was 46.2 per cent, down from 52.32 per cent in 2013.