Mayor-elect Taso Christopher celebrates with supporters at Belleville’s Greek Hall Monday night. Photo by Mark Hodgins
BELLEVILLE –Taso Christopher is the new mayor of Belleville, Jim Harrison is the new mayor of Quinte West, and Robert Quaiff is the winner in the mayor’s race of Prince Edward County.
Christopher won by 161 votes in a tight race with Pat Culhane. As ballots were counted, Culhane took the early lead before Christopher grabbed the lead back and kept it. Richard Davis Courneyea was a distant third.
Harrison and Quaiff both won by much larger margins. Harrison won with over 3,000 votes more than second-place Terry Cassidy, while Quaiff won with over 2,000 votes over second-place Jeff Goddard.
Late Monday, while celebrating with supporters at Belleville’s Greek Hall, Christopher told QNet News he is “profoundly proud of all the (residents) of Belleville. I’m very excited. I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running the first week of December.”
Following his victory in Quinte West, Harrison said: “I am thankful for the trust that everyone has in me. I will work hard, and so will the council.”
All three municipalities will have new mayors after Neil Ellis (Belleville), John Williams (Quinte West) and Peter Mertens (Prince Edward County) all chose not to seek re-election.
Seven candidates had been running for the position of Belleville mayor: Christopher and Culhane, a retailer and retired nurse respectively, journalist Bill Glisky , teacher Jill Raycroft, and businessmen Kenzo Dozono , Courneyea and Lonnie Herrington.
A smaller battle took place in Prince Edward County, with incumbent Quaiff, insurance broker Goddard and deli owner Paul Boyd vying for the mayor’s position.
Quinte West saw longtime council incumbents Harrison and Cassidy, carpenter Monte Hennessy, retired air-force veteran Claud’R du-Lude, and former councillor Sandra Carter clash for the mayor’s office.
The three municipalities also elected their city councils Monday night.
In Belleville, 30 people were vying for eight council seats across the two wards, Belleville and Thurlow.
Prince Edward County hasd 31 people fighting for 14 council seats throughout the wards of Picton, Wellington, Ameliasburgh, Athol, Hallowell, Hillier, North Marysburgh, South Marysburgh and Sophiasburgh.
Quinte West had 22 council candidates attempting to win a total of 14 seats across the wards of Trenton, Sidney, Murray and Frankford.
Belleville mayoral candidate Lonnie Herrington said Monday night that he is drained after the long election campaign.
“Gruelling … exhausting … regardless of the outcome, my next campaign starts tomorrow for the next four years.”
As election day closed, several Belleville voters said they were enthused by the number and variety of candidates.
“Yeah, there is a lot of variety, not a lot of extremes. So that’s a positive,” student Scott Martin told QNet News.
“I thought there was a good slate of candidates. Hopefully these ones turn their plans into actions,” said electrician John Hunt.
Other Belleville voters said the bevy of candidates made their decision difficult.
“The problem is there’s too many choices, so there’s going to be some vote-splitting. Unless you did your homework you were kind of out of luck,” said Dave Brown.
Retirees Leon and Mary Fox told a QNet News reporter that they felt the election was “cluttered with candidates” and they would have appreciated more information from the media.
QNet News is providing live coverage of the election on our website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. QNet reporters are also hosting live broadcasts on 91X-FM Radio and TVCogeco cable television.
– With files from Sean McIntosh, Mark Hodgins, Corey Jacobs, Tom Abram, Martin Allen and Buckley Smith of QNet News
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