Newcomer Gibson elected Wainfleet’s next mayor
Township municipal election sees a number new faces elected
With voting results in Wainfleet coming in agonizingly slowly Monday night, candidates vying to become mayor or to hold a seat as alderman were kept on the edge of their seats well after polls closed at 8 p.m.
The township’s council will see large-scale change, with current Mayor April Jeffs opting not to run for re-election, current Ald. Betty Konc running for mayor of Port Colborne — and losing — and two incumbent aldermen, Richard Dykstra and Ted Hessels, running for mayor.
With one of four polls reporting, newcomer Kevin Gibson, a 34-year retired veteran with the RCMP, had a sizeable lead over both council incumbents.
“Definitely, a lot of people said we need all new faces” on council, he said. “There was a lot of sentiment. People are looking for change, new ideas.”
Gibson said residents are fed up with development pressures, such as a housing project planned for the former Easter Seals camp property that may change the township’s idyllic rural nature.
The final vote saw Gibson handily win the mayor seat. He said he won’t come charging in promising make heads roll as he said he heard some candidates promise.
Hessels, a three-term council veteran, saw things differently while campaigning.
“I think most people are content with the way the township is being run,” he said.
He said he was “deeply disappointed” when, he said, Regional Chair Alan Caslin backtracked on a suggestion he made while in Wainfleet a while back that the Region might be willing to purchase the former Easter Seal camp lands to keep it pristine.
Dykstra, with two terms on council, said he heard loud and clear that residents want Wainfleet’s quiet, rural lifestyle protected from development.
Dykstra said Wainfleet residents also want a mayor who will fight to get more from the Region for all the taxes they funnel that way.
Candidate Andrew Watts said he heard residents are fed up with planned new developments and outsiders snapping up lots in Wainfleet.
Incumbent Ald. Terry Gilmore led the votes for candidates for alderman, with 13 people vying for four seats.
With big changes on council coming, Gilmore pledged to be a team player.
“It’s a small council and we have to work together. I’ll be happy to work with any of them.”
Also elected aldermen were Donna Cridland, John Maclellan and Sherri Van Vliet.
‘‘ There was a lot of sentiment. People are looking for
change, new ideas.