Hawkins victorious in Mulmur’s deputy mayoral race

In Mulmur Township, Earl Hawkins was able to defend his position as deputy mayor with a 708-597 win over Shirley Boxem.

Hawkins was at town hall Monday night to see the municipal election results roll in.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve this coming term,” Hawkins told The Echo. “I am grateful to all the people who supported me… I had a few staunch supporters who definitely helped me out.”

He said he worked really hard on the election trail, attempting to speak to as many voters as possible.

In the coming term, Hawkins said access to rural broadband internet continues to be a priority issue and he will work on infilling of areas left unserviced by the current installation.

Taking the three council seats will be Patty Clark, the incumbent received 877 votes, Andrew Cunningham, who got 854 votes, and Kim Lyon, with 592 votes.

Mayor Janet Horner, who was acclaimed, said she considered the last council to be a dream team and expects no less in the coming term.

She said she sees a lot of strengths in the new council.

“When I look at who’s going to be at the table, we’re going to have some very strong voices to be careful about tax increases, and perhaps putting some things off as we face what is going to be an inflationary period here,” said Horner, adding as prices increase she thinks the right people will be at the table to balance spending.

She said she is also pleased to see Clark and Cunningham returned, and said she will miss Boxem for her environmental focus.

“I’m pleased. I would have been happy with some other outcomes too but this one is just great,” said Horner. “I had a dream team last term and I’m going to make sure that this one is a dream team too. That’s my job,” she said, with a laugh.

Voter turnout in Mulmur was 36 per cent, down from 2018, like in most municipalities across Ontario.

In response Horner is asking, “how do we engage and get people excited, or interested even…, in voting? It’s kind of a sad reflection on people taking that responsibility seriously.”

She said, upon reflection, a lack of a controversial issue and no race for mayor could contribute to lower voter turnout.

“I don’t know how we get people reengaged,” said Horner.

On the other hand, she said, subscription to Mulmur’s monthly newsletter has doubled during the last term of council, now going out to almost 900 people by email.

“We’re trying to keep people more informed of what’s going on at the council table but that doesn’t mean we’re doing a perfect job and getting people interested and wanting to vote either,” she said.

Mulmur Township election results: