CHRIS GIBB ELECTED AS AMHERSTBURG’S NEXT MAYOR
Petruniak elected as deputy mayor
When the new Amherstburg town council takes over in November, there will be a new mayor at the helm.
Chris Gibb, the current deputy mayor, will move up to the mayor’s chair as a result of Monday night’s election. Gibb won with 3,928 votes, with former police chief Bill Fryer coming in second place with 3,284 votes. Incumbent mayor Michael Prue finished with 1,704 votes.
Bill Petruniak will take over as deputy mayor as he defeated current councillor Linden Crain in the race for the number two job. Petruniak got 5,146 votes while Crain finished the night with 3,590.
Jen DeLuca, Molly Allaire, Peter Courtney, Wes Ewer and Keith Boussey will be the five new councillors. DeLuca had 5,597 votes with the incumbent Allaire getting 5,226. Courtney was re-elected with 3,813 votes while Ewer received 3,370 votes. Boussey had 2,896 votes.
All vote totals were unofficial as of press time.
Gibb said he was “overwhelmed” by the election results though was happy to win the town’s top political job. The mayor-elect said there are lots of things to do, the first will be taking down all of his signs.
“I’m really looking forward to leading the next council,” said Gibb.
Gibb said it was a long campaign but is relieved it is over.
“To win is icing on the cake,” he said during a victory party at The Missing O restaurant.
The town was looking for people to bring the town forward, he added, and he wants to sit down with the incoming council members and see what their priorities are. His first call, Gibb said, would be to Petruniak.
While on the campaign trail, Gibb said people cared about roads and taxes among a variety of issues but most importantly about the community itself.
“People care deeply about this town,” said Gibb.
Gibb thanked his supporters, volunteers and family, stating wife Sarah always believed in him even at times when he didn’t believe in himself. The Town of Amherstburg is 230-years-old and he said this will be the start of making the next 230 years even greater than it is now.
“We are going to make it even better than what it is now,” said Gibb.
Prue met with supporters at The Artisan Grill and thanked his wife Shirley, his campaign volunteers, and said “we did everything we could.”“I ran on a platform of ‘this is what I’m going to do for you’,” said Prue.
Prue said he and Shirley moved to Amherstburg 17 years ago looking to retire. He added he got calls asking him to run for council and did, and ran for mayor four years after that and won.
Retirement plans are already underway, he indicated. “I came down here to have the best garden. I came down here to go fishing. I came down here to spend time with my lovely wife. I want to travel the world and read my books,” he said. “This is all going to happen. I thank the people of Amherstburg for giving me the opportunity but I thank them for telling me I’m free.”
Prue said if the next council is what the voters want, it is what they’re going to get. He wasn’t the only incumbent mayor to lose Monday night, with Drew Dilkens losing in Windsor to Fred Francis, LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche losing by 35 votes to Michael Macri, Mary Ellen Havlik upending Dennis Rogers in Kingsville and Joe Bachetti moving up from his deputy mayor role in Tecumseh by ousting incumbent Gary McNamara.
Hilda MacDonald was re-elected in Leamington, Tracey Bailey returns in Lakeshore and Sherry Bondy was re-elected in Essex.
Petruniak thanked his volunteers and his campaign team.
“I’m deeply humbled by all of the support I received from everyone,” he said. “It was a team effort. Everyone went above and beyond. I knocked on more doors than I can count.”
Petruniak said he didn’t receive any negative comments at the door and two who said they thanked him for stopping by but would vote for Crain. He said he reached out to Crain late Monday night and, as of Tuesday morning, has already spoken with Gibb.
“Everyone pulled together. The town has spoken,” he said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good group going into the next council. I believe if we all get on the same page, we can accomplish good things.”
Goals for Petruniak remain to amend the procedural bylaw and to address the budget.
“I really hope I can get everyone to agree to look at every department for cost savings,” he said. “We need to look at spending less and divesting infrastructure assets.”
Petruniak added achieving his goals will not be easy or quick, but would like to see if they can get done. He acknowledged there will be seven different opinions at the table.
“I’m sure they have a lot of good ideas,” he said.
Crain said he was proud of the campaign they ran.
“I’m proud of the effort we put in. The results didn’t go in my favour,” he said. “I wish my opponent all the best.”
Crain said he was “subject to a lot of negativity online” but didn’t respond and tried to stay positive. He said he knocked on 8,000 doors during the campaign but had an idea he was in trouble when he got a call with advance poll results. He admitted he was shocked by the outcome.
Crain said he was proud to be part of the outgoing council, noting the Heritage Conservation District, work on Open Air Weekends and the secondary plan for the Howard Industrial Park. He thanked his wife and all of his supporters.
“I love this community,” he said.
Rounding out the field of councillor candidates were Dhaval Prajapati with 2,631 votes, Armand Anderson with 2,456, Lena Lazanja with 2,400, Stephanie Pouget-Papak with 2,226, T.J. Botsford with 1,861, Shawn LeBlanc with 1,807, Frank Cleminson with 1,633, Sonya Elliott with 1,187, Lorne Dupuis with 800 and Saurabh Katara with 466.
Mary Jane Fields will be the new trustee for the Greater Essex County District School Board as she earned 2,532 votes in Amherstburg and 2,501 in LaSalle. Adam Peterson earned 1,298 in Amherstburg and 1,785 in LaSalle while Jeremy Palko got 1,738 in LaSalle and 1,018 in Amherstburg.
Dana Tonus will be the local trustee with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board as she got 1,531 votes in Amherstburg and 2,413 in LaSalle. Jesmond Tabone earned 461 in Amherstburg and 674 in LaSalle.
—With files from Laura D’Alessandro
GIBB ELECTED AS AMHERSTBURG’S NEXT MAYOR
By Ron Giofu
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