ERIN – Michael Dehn is the new mayor of Erin.
The Hillsburgh resident defeated current councillor Rob Smith Monday, 1,776 votes to 1,550.
Dehn lost to Allan Alls by 210 votes in the last election.
Elected to council were Cathy Aylard, John Brennan, Bridget Ryan and Jamie Cheyne. Val Bush and Kevin Johnson were unsuccessful. Cheyne beat Val Bush by 11 votes for the final seat on council.
Both John Brennan and Jamie Cheyne served as councillors in this last term.
Jeff Duncan was acclaimed county councillor for Ward 9.
Dehn said he cared more about our democracy than winning the mayoral position.
“I mean look, it was never a big competition for me, it’s what the people had a choice, I wanted to make sure they had a choice. Being acclaimed is not giving people much of a choice,” Dehn said.
Immediately after it was announced that Dehn had won, he did not realize that the race between him and Smith was close.
“So I do want to see how close the votes were. If it’s a really tight vote, it’s not a very clear mandate. So if we’re looking for change then we can go forward with what I’ve been proposing. If we’re looking at a close race, that doesn’t give a clear mandate, we still have to consider a lot of the policies that the previous council has put forward,” Dehn said.
In his campaign, Dehn wanted to limit spending and prioritize things like climate change as well as strengthening the local economy over the earnings of developers. Dehn worried about a lack of understanding of serious issues like the town’s water and escalating traffic.
After Smith learned he did not win the election, although he said he was okay, he looked visibly shaken.
“It is what it is. People spoke and that’s democracy that we have and that’s it. So the next chapter goes on,” Smith said.
Smith continues to value the initiatives he supported during the previous term.
“Absolutely, I think we were on the right path and, you know, we’ll see where it goes, we’ll see where the town goes,” Smith said.
Since Smith will not be the mayor, he’ll have more time to dedicate to his automotive recycling business.
“Just working. Yeah concentrate more on my work … with my company. It’ll alleviate some stuff there that, you know, filling in spots,” Smith said.
In his election campaign, Smith warned that change would be tough but necessary as the community grows. He was confident that with a bigger population, there will be more money accumulated from taxes which can be invested in communities and issues that have lacked investment in the past.
Unofficial results:
Cathy Aylard: 2,050
Bridget Ryan: 2,011
John Brennan: 1,959
Jamie Cheyne: 1,805
Val Bush: 1,794
Kevin Johnson: 1,381
In the last election, Allan Alls, won the mayor's race 1,465 votes, beating Dehn by 210 votes. Alls did not run in this election.
Incumbent councillor Mike Robins did not run this time around.
