Rough night for incumbents

by Jeff Green

MacDonald defeated by Gutowski in Central Frontenac

Maguire re-elected in North Frontenac

Hogg makes a comeback in Addington Highlands

Lake loses to Davison in South Frontenac

McDermott ousted by Fletcher in Lanark Highlands

There will be a new look to the councils in all of the landlocked Frontenac townships, Addington Highlands and Lanark Highlands after the votes were counted on Monday night.

This was clear within minutes of the close of voting at 8:00 p.m. on Monday night. In South Frontenac, almost 8,000 electronic votes were tabulated quickly. By 8:20 the results were posted at the Town Hall in Sydenham, and the first incumbent mayor in the region had gone down to defeat. One-term councillor Gary Davison defeated incumbent Mayor Bill Lake by a margin of 199 votes. Gary Davison received 4005 votes to Bill Lake ’s 3806.

Davison will lead an eight-member council which will have four new faces.

In Storrington District, the only incumbent running, Peter Roos, was bested by two newcomers. Larry York received 1,229 votes, John Fillion received 1,032, and Roos finished third with 925. Norm Roberts finished fourth with 765 votes. The other Storrington incumbent, Jack Barr, ran in Bedford District this time around.

In Loughborough, the sole incumbent running was Ron Vandewal (the other incumbent is mayor-elect Davison). Vandewal was easily re-elected with 1,525 votes, and it was third time lucky for candidate Alan McPhail, who won a council seat with 1,434 votes. Tedd Hosler finished third with 632 votes.

In Portland , incumbent Don Smith did not seek re-election. Bill Robinson, the other incumbent, easily won re-election with 1,001 votes, and he will be joined by new councillor Jim Hicks, who garnered 728 votes. Of the four other candidates running for council in Portland , Tom Addison received 600 votes, Rob Tapscott 496, Doug Lovegrove 441, and Mike Cope 360.

Finally, Bedford is the only district that will send two incumbents back to Sydenham. Del Stowe received the most number of votes, 718, followed closely by David Hahn, 714, with Jack Barr falling short at 600 votes and Randy McConnell receiving 352.

One more sitting representative went down to defeat in South Frontenac, where Ken Gilpin lost out to Barb McLaren for Public School Board Trustee by a vote of 4,038 tao 2,562.

The overall turnout in South Frontenac is not yet finalised, but returning officer (and CAO) Gord Burns estimates that it was about 43%, down from 50% in 2003. The highest percentage of voters came from Storrington (46.46%) and the lowest number came from Bedford (30.48%), suggesting that seasonal residents are still less likely to vote than permanent residents.

Kerr and Freeman re-elected in Tay Valley

Tay Valley Township , which also employed internet voting, had early results as well, but in Tay Valley incumbents fared quite well. By 8:30, incumbent Reeve Keith Kerr had been re-elected over former Reeve Mike Mosher, by a decisive margin of 2149 to 843. Of particular interest to Maberly residents, Susan Freeman defeated Mark Burnham in the Deputy Reeve race by a vote of 1887 to 1082. The two councillors in Sherbrooke ward, Sylvia Bumstead and Roxanne Darling, were acclaimed.

Voter turnout was 40% in Tay Valley, down from 47% in 2003.

Hogg makes comeback in Addington Highlands

Addington Highlands, which also employed electronic voting, was a bit slow to report, but only because the auditor who had to confirm the votes took a while to arrive at the township office in Flinton.

By 9:15, however, Henry Hogg, who had served as Reeve between 2001 and 2003, before sitting out this latest term, was elected with 1005 votes, defeating sitting Ward 2 councillor Bill Cox, who was supported by 583 voters.

Hogg will lead a council that is split between incumbents and new councillors.

In Ward 1, incumbent Eythel Grant was re-elected with 422 votes. Grant will be joined by Janice Kerr, with 418 votes. Faye Mieske received 311 votes.

In Ward 2, newcomer Helen Yanch received the most votes, 425, while incumbent Louise Scott was re-elected with 357 votes. Larry Pealow, 256, finished third, followed by Ibra Cuddy, 205, Tommy Thompson, 182, and Charles Snider, 148.

Voter turnout in Addington Highlands was 32%, down from 38% in 2003.

Cameron, McDermott out in Lanark Highlands

Big changes took place in Lanark Highlands, where long-time incumbent Mayor Larry McDermott was defeated by Bob Fletcher by a slim margin, 1796 to 1772, with Russell Hillier finishing with 383 votes.

McDermott was not the only disappointed incumbent in Lanark Highlands. Two incumbents were acclaimed, but three of the four incumbents who were contested went down to defeat. Of interest to readers in the McDonalds Corner’s area, Hazel Cameron was one of the incumbents who lost. The only Ward 6 seat went to Brian Stewart, who received 382 votes, to Cameron’s 308. Don Rennick received 77 votes, and Tanya Stone, who pulled out of the race but was too late to have her name removed from the candidates’ list, received 16 votes. 

Gutowski defeats McDonald

It took a lot longer for the results of the mail-in vote to be counted in Central Frontenac. In fact the Sydenham council chambers were dark and the Sydenham Legion was full before the first results were posted at the township hall in Sharbot Lake. However, the later results did not save the incumbent mayor from the trend towards change. When all of the results came in, just before midnight, Janet Gutowski had received 1596 votes to Bill MacDonald’s 1364, with Doug Bearance finishing in third place with 883 votes.

Janet Gutowski, a one-term councillor who has lived in the township for only four years, has spent a full year on the campaign trail, and it paid off with a 232 vote margin of victory over the long-serving MacDonald, who until now has been the only mayor in the 9-year history of Central Frontenac.

Incumbent councillors were not safe from the mood for change either, as two went down to defeat; Councillors

Logan Murray and Bill Guigue.

Kennebec District was the first to produce final results, with newcomer Gary Smith outpolling all voters with 572 votes to win a seat. The second Kennebec seat was won by Jeff Matson with 386 votes, just two more than incumbent Logan Murray at 364. Tom Dewey polled 285 votes, and Donna Easton, 118.

Olden district came next, with newcomers Norman Guntensperger, 365, and John Purdon, 364, winning seats. Former councillor Elva Price, fell short in her comeback attempt with 285 votes, while incumbent Bill Guigue received 275 votes, and 122 people voted for Justin Gray.

Oso district was the only one in the township that saw no change. Frances Smith once again outpolled all candidates with 844 votes, with Bob Harvey keeping his seat with 543 votes, and Ed Beattie receiving 420 votes to finish third.

In Hinchinbrooke, Bill Snyder was re-elected with 595 votes, and Phillip Smith won the second seat, (vacated by mayor-elect Gutowski), with 553 votes. Former councillor Boyce Peters was unsuccessful in a comeback attempt, receiving 362 votes. Dave Hoover, 163, Wayne Bush, 116, and Danka Brewer, 60, rounded out the field.

The voter turnout in Central Frontenac was 51.6%, almost the same as it had been in 2003.

It was past midnight by the time final results were available in North Frontenac, but that didn’t bother incumbent Mayor Ron Maguire too much. He held on to the mayor’s job. In fact it was the first time he has won an election in North Frontenac, after losing the mayoralty race to Stan Johnston in 2000 and being acclaimed to the mayor’s post in 2003.

Maguire will be leading four brand new councillors when the new council is sworn in December. That reality is partly the result of the mayoralty election itself, which saw Maguire, with 1137 votes, defeat sitting Clarendon and Miller councillors Bud Clayton, who received 747 votes, and Betty Hunter, who received 638.

The only returning councillors will be Fred Perry and Wayne Good, both of whom had been appointed to council during this past term and were acclaimed in Barrie ward this time around.

In the wide open race in Clarendon and Miller, Lonnie Watkins received the most votes, 509, and he will be joined on council by Wayne Cole, with 506 votes. Former councillor Elaine Churchill received 290 votes, with Carol Hiller receiving 235 and Ken Cox, 183.

Challengers Jim Beam, with 349 votes, and Bob Olmstead, with 315, defeated incumbent David Smith in Palmerston/Canonto. Smith received 240 votes. Councillor Gleva Lemke did not seek re-election.