Eleven people want to be Petrolia councillors

Nominations for municipal council close in one hour

With just one hour before the deadline to register to run for municipal council, there have been a few surprises.

In Plympton-Wyoming, there are now three people running for the top job vacated as Lonny Napper retires. Current Councillor Tim Wilkins has filed his papers to run for mayor. He faces Muriel Wright and Gary Atikinson in the race.

Also new to the race in Plympton-Wyoming are Kristen Rodrigues, John VanKlaveren and Alex Boughen who have joined the race for four council positions. Seven people have registered to run.

In Petrolia there has also been a flurry of entries to the race for councillor; Chad Hyatt and Debb Pitel – a suicide prevention advocate and Allison Mevis who was one of the people who recently tried to get Petrolia council to deal with drainage issues before approving the zoning for a townhouse complex – are among 11 people vying for six positions. There have been no other entries in the mayoralty race between the incumbent – Brad Loosley – and Richard Poore.

In Warwick, there are also more people willing to run for council; Joe Manning has joined the list of eight people now running for councillor positions. There are still two running for mayor, the incumbent – Jackie Rombouts – and former mayor Todd Case.

In Brooke-Alvinston, three more people have joined the race for council – incumbent Wayne Deans, former Inwood Fire Chief and president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture Don McCabe and Gregory Hilliard, who has voiced concern about a number of council actions over the past four years, including the enforcement of the pool fence bylaw.

In Dawn-Euphemia, four people are in the running for four seats with just an hour before the deadline. Noticeably absent from the list of potential councillors at this point is long time council member Leslea Williams. Jason Myer, Ann Gray, Paul LeBoeuf and Mark McGuire have all filed nomination papers.

In Enniskillen, the current council are all on the list of unofficial candidates – with no other challengers the entire council could be acclaimed.

In Oil Springs: the entire council there may also be acclaimed with four people looking to fill the four councillor seats. Incumbent Ian Veen is the lone candidate right now for mayor and incumbents Larry Wagner, Connie McFadden and Adam Veen have all filed to run for another term Jordon Newport – a newcomer to local politics – has also filed his papers.

In St. Clair Township; three people, Tracy Kingston, Jeff Agar and Chad Shymoko are vying for the mayor’s chair with the retirement of long-time Mayor Steve Arnold.

Incumbent Steve Miller is the lone candidate for the deputy mayor’s job.

With one hour left in the nomination period there are six people running in ward one, including incumbent Pat Brown. Charles Mortley-Woods, Cathy Langis, Holly Foster, Bill Moran and Michelle Maitland have all filed nomination papers.

In Ward two, the candidates may be acclaimed with just Bill Myers and Gary Martin on the list of unofficial candidates with just an hour until the nominations close at 2 pm.