The First Strong Mayor Election In Frontenac County

While this coming election in Frontenac County is a hit and miss affair as far as races for council are concerned, there is a contest for mayor in South, Central and North Frontenac alike.

Each of those three races are quite different from the others, but one thing about them is the same. This is the first time that the candidates for mayor are running to be strong mayors. The two incumbents who are running, Ron Vandewal in South Frontenac and Gerry Lichty in North Frontenac, have been serving as strong mayors during the current council, and both have deferred to council in all instances that they could have made use of strong mayor powers. And, it was the councils as a whole who ultimately had decision-making powers over all matters under municipal jurisdiction, under the often-prescriptive dictates of the Ontario Municipal Act.

During this campaign, when asked where they stand on issues where strong mayor powers are in place, which includes budgetary matters, the candidates will have to indicate not only where they stand on those issues, but also if they are willing to impose those positions if they encounter resistance at the council table.

It is now a fair question, and we will ask about this in our coverage, about the relative importance of working collaboratively with Council and Staff, or making sure that certain things get done. Is opposition to strong mayor powers a bigger commitment than making sure the township is on the right path according to the mayor, regardless of the collective will of the rest of council?

Looking at the three races individually, the race in North Frontenac has to be the biggest wild card race. Gerry Lichty was a political unknown who defeated an incumbent in a two way race the last time around, and he ran against Ron Higgin’s record four years ago.

This time, Lichty is the incumbent, and both Kelly Willis and Art Hannigan will be running against his record.

Because of strong mayor powers, one of the questions to be asked of all three candidates, but particularly Willis and Hannigan, is how they view staffing issues at the township. Under strong mayor powers, the mayor has direct hiring and firing authority over the Chief Administrative Officer, and through that direct power, a lot of indirect power over other senior staff positions.

Central Frontenac, Nicki Gowdy and Susan Irwin offer a clear choice to voters. While they both are committed to keeping budgets in check, and by being at the council table they know that Central Frontenac has limited resources, even compared to other Frontenac County townships, Suan Irwin has been more supportive of the direction the township has taken under Mayor Smith, and Gowdy has expressed more opposition on certain matters.

In our coverage we will attempt to clarify what those differences are and how the township would be different, if one or the other is elected.

In South Frontenac, Ron Vandewal is a known quantity as mayor after 12 years. His attitude to spending has not changed fundamentally in that time, but fiscal reality has had an impact on the way he expresses his basic tendency for fiscal conservatism. He used to target a 2% tax increase, which was not always possible, but has presided over multiple budgets with increases that are closer to 5% than 2%, and no longer sees that 2% target as realistic.

Alan Revill has followed the decisions of Council closely before and after the 2022 election, and his goal in this election is to articulate how things could and should be done differently, in the township. Since he is not only a former councillor, but also a former Chief Building Official with the township, he brings insider knowledge about the workings of the township to his candidacy.

Steven Leonard was a vocal opponent of the Official Plan that the township approved last year, particularly the changes to the amount of land designated as Prime Agricultural Land. He will attempt to bring the interest of the agricultural sector to the election, as well as to landowners rights, generally.

Election Coverage

The Frontenac News will run all candidates meetings, in all contested wards, as we have done in previous elections, and we invite the candidates for mayor to those meetings as well. Those meetings will start in mid-September.

We are planning to organise four meetings in Central Frontenac, in Arden, Mountain Grove, Sharbot Lake, and at the Piccadilly Hall. In North Frontenac, we are planning to organise meetings in Plevna and Cloyne, and in Denbigh for the Ward 1 election. We will invite Ken Hook to that meeting, even though he has already been elected through acclamation, as reeve.

In South Frontenac, in addition to a meeting in Storrington District, we are looking to hold an extra meeting, only for the candidates for mayor, that is central to residents from the three districts who do not have council elections. That meeting will likely take place in Verona, which is a reasonable distance for Sydenham, Harrowsmith and Godfrey residents.

For our Maberly readers, we are looking at the Sherbrooke Ward in Tay Valley, and will pursue a meeting in Maberly for that race.

We will publish a list of dates and locations for all candidates meetings, on the front page of the paper, as the dates are confirmed, and in our print and web versions of Everythingfrontenac.ca

As for election profiles in the newspaper, we are looking at running them over three weeks in late September and early October, and posting an election primer on Frontenacnews.ca