Clock ticking on nominations for regional council
With only days to go until nominations close, the races for regional council in Niagara are starting to take shape.
The deadline for nominations is Friday at 2 p.m.
As of Tuesday morning, some familiar faces hadn’t filled their papers — including Bart Maves of Niagara Falls, George Marshall of Welland, Debbie McGregor of St. Catharines, David Barrick of Port Colborne, Mayor Bob Bentley of Grimsby and Mayor Doug Joyner of West Lincoln.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t running. Many are leaving it to the last minute.
Take Marshall for example. “I had some thought of hanging them up earlier this year, but, no, I definitely intend to run,” Marshall said.
“There is a lot more to (registering as a candidate) than there used to be — like getting 25 names (of eligible voters supporting you). I am running around doing that today. I’ll be ready to sign on today or tomorrow.”
Twelve mayors automatically have seats on regional council. Nineteen additional councillors join the mayors around the horseshoe.
That number that will increase by one next term after council voted to give West Lincoln another seat as the township’s population booms.
There are four candidates for the first at-large election of Niagara Region’s chair, including Dave Augustyn, the mayor of Pelham; Alan Caslin, the current chair and a regional councillor from St. Catharines; Damian Goulbourne, a former Welland mayor; and ice entrepreneur John (Ringo) Beam of Niagara Falls.
Wayne Redekop has registered to run again for mayor of Fort Erie. Sandy Annunziata is on the re-election list for regional council, as is Tom Insinna.
In Grimsby there was one candidate for mayor so far, Jeff Jordan. Tony Quirk has signed up to represent Grimsby on regional council again. He has one challenger, Wayne Fertich.
In Lincoln, Bill Hodgson is retiring from politics. Robert Foster and John Krait are challenging for the seat. Mayor Sandra Easton has registered.
Niagara-on-the-Lake will send at least one newcomer to regional council. Gary Burroughs, the current regional councillor, is instead running for a seat on town council. Mark Cherney and Chuck McShane are running for the regional seat. Lord Mayor
Pat Darte is running for another term. He has two challengers, Daniel Turner and Betty Disero.
Niagara Falls has three candidates for mayor, including incumbent Jim Diodati — who announced this week he is battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer. He has two challengers: Kip Finn and Dinah Lilia Mansour. Two incumbents have registered, Selina Volpatti and Bob Gale. Dianne Munro, Peter Nicholson, Anne Angelone and Tim Housser and John Morocco have registered.
For a run down on the rest of the municipalities, see the story online.