Election_heats_up

Jeff Green | Sep 21, 2006

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Election heats upHunter to contest Clayton for NFMayor; Bearance candidacy makes CFa three-way race; Davison to give Lakea run in South Frontenac; Henry Hogg trying to reclaim Reeve position in Addington Highlands

by Jeff Green

North Frontenac Councillor Betty Hunter has decided to run for mayor this time around, pitting her against Bud Clayton, a councillor from the same Clarendon and Miller district that she represents.

Hunter has taken on various roles as a councillor, and in her role as the Chair of the township’s Economic Development Committee, she has worked on marketing the wilderness campsites that the township runs on Crown land within the township.

This issue is one of the points where she differs from Bud Clayton, who has voiced opposition to the program on several occasions, saying that it costs North Frontenac ratepayers money each year even though it was intended to be revenue neutral.

Hunter has come into the race in the wake of a surprise decision by current Mayor Ron Maguire not to seek re-election.

Central Frontenac race gains another voice of experience What was already shaping up to be a interesting mayoralty race between incumbent Bill MacDonald and one-term councillor Janet Gutowski, has an added dimension now that current Stone Mills Reeve and Lennox & Addington Warden Doug Bearance has decided to run for Mayor of Central Frontenac. Although Bearance has served on Stone Mills Council for the past two terms (he was Deputy Reeve from 2002-2004), Bearance served under Bill MacDonald as Hinchinbrooke Councillor in the first term of Central Frontenac Council (1998-2001). He has a long history in municipal politics, having served as Deputy Reeve on the old Hinchinbrooke Council, and as a councillor in both Portland and Sheffield townships.

Bearance has lived all along on Wagarville Road in Central Frontenac, and recently sold the IGA store he owned in Tamworth , and had been planning to retire from municipal politics.

“But,” he told the News early this week, “people from around Central Frontenac have been phoning me and asking me to run. They thought that after nine years, they would like to see a change.”

Bearance said that he has always tried to work with people in his years in municipal governance.

“I know Bill’s a good guy, and he does a good job,” he said of incumbent candidate Bill MacDonald, and he said he is unfamiliar with Janet Gutowski. He considers himself an underdog candidate, and he said he won’t be saying anything against the other candidates.

“But I guess I’d say I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I’d do a better job,” he offered.

Davison throws his hat in as well Loughborough District Councillor Gary Davison, who had indicated earlier this summer that he was not intending to run for re-election, has decided to contest incumbent Mayor Bill Lake , who is seeking a second term.

When contacted on Tuesday afternoon, Davison said he has been thinking of running for Mayor for some time. “I said I was not planning to run for Council,” Davison said when contacted on Tuesday of this week. On a more serious note, he said, “There are a few things up in the air that need a lot of attention in South Frontenac. Amalgamation is foremost in my mind. I think the whole township would benefit from a streamlined administration; there doesn’t seem to be much interest in pursuing that right now. Recycling, which has been such a boondoggle in Portland and Loughborough, must be addressed if we don’t want to be shipping our garbage out to the Richmond landfill.”

Gary spent 40 years as a volunteer firefighter. He resigned as Loughborough Fire Chief just in time to run for Council in 2003, and has served one term on Council.

Addington Highlands: Finally, just the News was about to go to press, we learned that Henry Hogg, the former Reeve of Addington Highlands, has decided to run for Reeve this year. Bill Cox, currently a councillor in Ward 2, had been the only declared candidate for Reeve in Addington Highlands.

With ten days to go before the close of nominations for this fall’s municipal election, some voters can expect to be faced with an array of names on their ballots, while some districts are still facing the prospect of acclamations.

It all depends where they live.

In Addington Highlands, Councillor Louise Scott is running for re-election in Ward 2, and Larry Pealow and Charles Snider are running as well. In Ward 1 (Denbigh) Eythel Grant is seeking re-election, and he will be running against Janice Kerr and Faye Mieske.

In North Frontenac, Councillors Fred Perry and Wayne Good, who were both appointed in Barrie Ward during the current term of council, are both running for election. In Clarendon and Miller Ward, Ken Cox is the only candidate registered thus far, and in Palmerston Canonto it looks like there will be a race as Jim Beam and Bob Olmstead have been joined this week by incumbent David Smith.

In Central Frontenac, Councillor Logan Murray is running for re-election in Kennebec , and Tom Dewey is also running.

In Olden, the field is more crowded. Councillor Bill Guigue is seeking re-election, and Justin Gray, Norman Guntensperger, and John Purdon are also running.

Oso has the two long-serving incumbents, Francis Smith and Bob Harvey, running again, as well as Ed Beattie.

Finally, Hinchinbrooke has no less than six candidates registered, including incumbent Bill Snyder, and Boyce Peters, Wayne Bush, Philip Smith, Dave Hoover, and Danka Brewer.

In South Frontenac, there are three candidates for the two Bedford positions: incumbents David Hahn and Del Stowe, along with Randy McConnell.

Portland district should be interesting, with incumbent Bill Robinson running, as well as Mike Cope, Tom Addison, Doug Lovegrove, Jim Hicks, and Ron Tapscott.

In Loughborough, Ron Vandewal is running for re-election, and Fran Willes, Tedd Hosler and Alan McPhail are running as well.

Finally, in Storrington, incumbent Peter Roos is running again, as are Larry York, John Fillion and Norm Roberts.