MORRISBURG – Current South Dundas councillor Donald Lewis will seek election as deputy mayor in this fall’s municipal election.
He informed The Leader of his decision Monday morning.
“At 6 a.m. this morning I was sitting with my paperwork out on the table and I decided that I’m going to run for the position of deputy mayor,” said Lewis. He will file that paperwork with the clerk at the South Dundas Municipal Centre a later this week.
“From 2018 until now, we’ve had two strong voices at county council and I want that to continue,” said Lewis.
He hopes that the citizens of South Dundas will see fit to elect him to be one of those two strong voices at the county council table as well as continuing to serve the citizens of this community.
Lewis is also hoping that current deputy mayor Kirsten Gardner will step up and run for mayor of South Dundas. Regardless of what she decides, however, his mind is made up.
Lewis did let her know about his decision prior to making his announcement.
So far, Lewis is the only member of the current council to announce his intention to seek re-election. When the municipal election nomination period opened in May both South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds and councillor Archie Mellan announced that they will not be seeking re-election.
Lewis is likely to be the first person to officially file his nomination papers with the clerk.
“I want to let people know what I’m doing early,” said Lewis. “If anyone intends to run, I want them to know exactly where I’m standing.”
He added that he thinks he has served the citizens of South Dundas well over the last four years because he doesn’t make decisions with certain groups of people in mind. “I’m here to represent all 11,000 citizens of South Dundas, and that’s how I make my decisions,” said Lewis.
The deadline to file a nomination to be a municipal council or school trustee candidate is Friday, August 19, 2022 at 2 p.m.
As of Monday (June 6), six nomination packages have been taken from the South Dundas Municipal Centre.
Municipal council and school board elections take place Monday, October 24, 2022.
Citizens can determine whether they are on the voter’s list to vote for municipal council and school board elections at voterlookup.ca. On this site voters can add their names, confirm or update personal information, change school support for the purpose of elections and add other electors under their address.
The council and school board term of office will run from November 15, 2022 to November 14, 2026.