Incumbent Randy Hope failed to secure a fourth term finishing a distant third
Chatham-Kent has a new mayor.
First time mayoral candidate Darrin Canniff received 19,316 votes to claim the mayor's seat.
Incumbent Randy Hope failed to secure a fourth term finishing a distant third with 4,722 votes.
Canniff says voters wanted change.
"Overall, Chatham-Kent wanted a change. They delivered a solid mandate for us to move forward and make some really good things happen here. There's so much more potential here and we can take it, as a team, moving to that next level."
He says there's a long list of issues he wants to tackle.
"There's a lot of things. We want jobs. We need more people. We need more skilled people. We need infrastructure. There's a lot of different issues and it's a matter of approach and leadership. That's what people are looking for. We need to move forward with that and come up with new ideas."
Canniff says he's looking forward to getting to work with his new council.
"I'm excited about the group. We're getting a lot of fresh ideas coming to the table. We've got some incumbents coming back and rookies coming in. So it'll be a good balance of experience. I think, well I don't think, I know that collectively we can make a big difference in Chatham-Kent."
As for Chatham council, incumbents Michael Bondy, Brock McGregor and Doug Sulman will be joined by former councillor Marjorie Crew and newcomers Karen Kirkwood-Whyte and Amy Finn.
Voter turnout was slightly up from the 2014 election from 42.1% to 45.4%.
Unofficial ResultsMAYOR: Darrin Canniff (ELECTED) Votes: 17,125 Alysson Storey Votes: 9255Randy Hope Votes: 4722Harold Atkinson Votes: 675Robert Salvatore Powers Votes: 351Allan Robert "Al" Traylor Votes: 170
CITY COUNCIL:
Majorie Crew (ELECTED) Votes: 7589Michael Bondy (ELECTED) Votes: 7552Brock McGregor (ELECTED)Votes: 7267Doug Sulman (ELECTED)Votes: 6565Karen Kirkwood-Whyte (ELECTED) Votes: 5893Amy Finn (ELECTED) Votes: 5753Larry Vellinga Votes: 5698Don Duoco Votes: 5449Don Leonard Votes: 4576Kirk Hooker Votes: 3301Penelope Duchesne Votes: 2960Chris June Votes: 2687Ryan Jackson Votes: 1432Gordon Thomas Votes: 1127Les Banks Votes: 740James Thompson Votes: 668Drew Simpson Votes: 564