Vandewal wins closely fought mayor's race in South Frontenac

Jeff Green | Oct 28, 2014

Sutherland, Schjerning new in Loughborough; McDougall and Robinson return in Portland

by Jeff Green

Ron Vandewal said he was not totally surprised that the election between himself and Allan McPhail ended up being a close race.

“Although I did think it might have been a bit farther apart, I also know that while I was campaigning a lot of people said 'Al's done a pretty good job on Council and you've done a pretty good job on council, so I'm happy either way.' I think the final vote reflected some of that.”

The finally tally was: Vandewal – 3048 (47%), McPhail – 2780 (43%) and John McEwen 552 (8.5%). There were 67 (1%) spoiled ballots.

The spoiled ballots, explained CAO Wayne Orr, came from voters who logged in and voted, but did not choose any candidate for a particular position.

Thirty-six percent of the electorate voted for mayor, down about 5% from 2010.

“I will say this about the race,” said Vandewal, “between Al, John and myself it was a clean race. None of us did or said anything to discredit the other candidates.”

He said that when he looks at the slate of councilors he will be working with, and only three of the eight are currently sitting on council, he thinks it will be a good group to work with.

“I do know some of them, at least a little bit, and I think they will see that the township is well run, and we have a good, solid staff in place. But there are always ways to fine tune things. I think we'll do ok.”

He said that one of his main goals is to ensure that it is council that sets the priorities for the township.

“I have no problem with staff giving us direction but if we let them have all the control over what happens then we can only blame ourselves if we don't like what is happening,” he said.

Loughborough

The race in Loughborough district was the most competitive, with six candidates vying for two vacant council positions.

A number of candidates braved the back roads to pound on doors over the summer and early fall, and in the case of Ross Sutherland it seems to have paid off. He led all candidates by a huge margin, receiving 1151 votes. The race for second spot was exceedingly tight, with Mark Schjerning nudging out Fran Willes by a mere four votes, 688 to 684. Dave Plumpton was a bit behind with 609. Fifth place candidate Stephen Bach also received significant support at 551 votes, and Terry Thake rounded out the field with 542 votes.

Portland

Incumbents ruled in Portland. John McDougall received 1322 votes and Bill Robinson 872. Bradley Barbeau finished third with 793 votes. McDougall is likely to remain the county council representative for the township, since after Robinson he is the longest serving member of council. Robinson has never shown any interest in sitting at the county table.

In the two other districts, Storrington and Bedford, three newcomers were acclaimed to council: Norm Roberts and Ron Sleeth in Storrington, and Alan Revill in Bedford. Pat Barr, who was appointed to council 15 months ago to serve out the term of Mark Tinlin after he resigned, was also acclaimed to council in Bedford.

In the end South Frontenac will be overseen by a rookie mayor, five new members of council, and three incumbents.