By Cecilia Nasmith
The mandate of the current contingent of Northumberland County council ends Nov. 14 and, following election day next week, there is the potential for a number of new faces on the seven-member body.
Mayor Mandy Martin is acclaimed as Cramahe Township Mayor.
Scott Jibb is also acclaimed as Hamilton Township Mayor, but he is replacing incumbent Bill Cane.
Another mayor not returning is Gail Latchford of Alnwick-Haldimand Township. Three candidates are running for the seat – Gritt Koehl, Steven Gilchrist and John Logel (who previously served as mayor of the township and a partial term as warden).
As well, in Port Hope, Mayor Bob Sanderson is retiring, with four candidates seeking his seat – Jeff Lees, Olena Hankivsky, Laurie Carr and Angela Grogan.
The remaining three mayors are running for re-election, but each has challengers. In Trent Hills, Mayor Bob Crate is being challenged by Susan Fedorka. In Brighton, Mayor Brian Ostrander is being challenged by Doug LeBlanc. And in Cobourg, Mayor John Henderson faces a challenge from Lucas Cleveland.
This presents the potential for potentially as many as six new faces around the seven-member county-council table – and certainly at least the three who are replacing those mayors who are stepping down.
For the sake of continuity, a reporter asked incumbent Warden Crate and Deputy Warden Martin at this week's county-council meeting – the next-to-last one in their terms, with a final county council meeting set for Nov. 9 – if they will seek re-election to these posts.
“I am in the middle of an election campaign, so I don't know until Tuesday whether I will be mayor of Trent Hills going forward,” Crate said.
“When that happens, and I am hoping for a good result, I will then be able to make a decision going forward on whether I would look at seeking the warden's chair again.”
The post of Deputy Warden does not automatically mean succession to the Warden's seat, but Martin looked at the way both posts are chosen – on nomination by one's fellow councillors, with the right of refusal (as Cobourg Mayor John Henderson chose to do last year, given significant challenges he faced within Cobourg at the time).
“I have a different take,” Martin said.
“It isn't a mater of deciding I am seeking the office. That is so totally contrary to what we do here or have done in the last term. I think it comes from the council members.
“It isn't anybody standing up and crowing. What all seven of us decide is what we go with, and I respect that. It's not a matter of standing up and saying, 'I am going to be king or queen or whatever,' It's the consensus of the group surrounding this table, and that is what I respect,” Martin said.
“I haven't even thought of that, frankly. It's not my decision. It's the decision of whoever is sitting around this table, and that's a decision to be respected.”
