Vanderkruys elected Clearview mayor
Chris Vanderkruys and Barry Burton have been elected to lead Clearview Township council over the next four years.
Vanderkruys beat out Alicia Savage for the mayor’s seat by 669 votes. Vanderkruys got 2,856 votes and Savage got 2,187.
Burton won over Larry Culham for the position of deputy mayor by 241 votes. Burton got 2,589 and Culham got 2,348.
Vanderkruys got the news while at home in Brentwood, preparing to celebrate with family, friends and supporters from all over the township.
“I am very excited,” he told the Echo. “Very excited that I’m moving forward.”
He said he got the good news from Burton who phoned just as Vanderkruys was seeing some results come through on Twitter.
“People decided to look for change, there was a lot of votes that came through today,” said Vanderkruys.
Voter turnout was at 41.8 per cent but it seemed that many voters waited until the end of the 10-day voting period to fill out their ballots online or by phone.
“I really feel that those who have served our community certainly need to receive that gold star because no matter what, they have given their time, above and beyond to make sure that things were done or set in place and the concept is, we only should be looking forward, never looking back,” said Vanderkruys.
Savage and Culham were among those gathered at the Stayner Community Centre where township staff projected election results once they were tallied.
“Nobody knew more than I did what’s at stake in this election so I really hope that the new council doesn’t take too much time figuring out what they need to do because there is an awful lot of work that needs to be done,” said Savage. “I am grateful to the outgoing council for their vision and their hard work in getting us to where we are. I have every confidence that staff will do what they can to keep up the momentum and I really, really enjoyed serving Clearview for the last eight years as deputy mayor. I particularly enjoyed my work at the county.”
She said she hopes to find a way to continue to contribute at the county level.
Barry Burton celebrated at his home in Creemore.
“It was close. I worked hard. Larry worked hard and Clearview has made a decision. When I look at who won, Clearview is ready for a change,” said Burton. “I am thrilled to see that Chris Vanderkruys is going to be the mayor and I think we’re ready for a change and it’s time to move forward and get some action happening.”
Culham congratulated Burton by telephone once the results were in.
“He ran a great campaign and it’s been a real learning experience for me and I look forward to possibly running again in the future,” said Culham.
In Ward 5, Thom Paterson won with 545 votes compared to 295 for Robert McArthur.
McArthur said he is pleased with the campaign and knows the ward will be well represented by Paterson.
“Now that I’ve got a feel for township politics, I am more intrigued than ever,” said McArthur.
Kevin Elwood won the Ward 2 seat with 569 votes, over Donna Baylis with 232 votes.
“I am proud to be elected in Ward 2 for Clearview Township. I worked hard during the campaign and it will be a privilege and an honour to represent the residents of Ward 2 and I thank everyone that supported me,” said Elwood. “I had a lot of people support me during the campaign so it wasn’t only my efforts.”
In Ward 1 Doug Measures was returned to the council table with 483 votes, only 46 votes ahead of Al Bell.
Robert Walker held on to his seat in Ward 3 with 398 votes, 54 votes more than John Broderick.
Deborah Bronée took Ward 7 with 378 votes, ahead of three opponents; Allan Howlett with 161 votes, Steven Cordick with 51 votes and Robyn Gignac with 16 votes.
Connie Leishman and Shawn Davidson were acclaimed.
In the English public school trustee race, 2,298 of Clearview’s votes went to Donna Lawson and 1,963 went to Annie Chandler.
Chandler won the overall race, factoring in votes from Clearview and Collingwood, with 6,654 votes. Lawson received a total of 3,950 votes between the two communities.
