After both running in last November’s municipal election, former councillor Todd Hamilton and Ken Perry will be on the ballot for the Jan. 14 byelection for a seat on Fort Frances town council.
And with less than a month and-a-half to go before election day, both candidates are making it clear they’re serious about the job.
“I’m ready, willing, and able to make the commitment, and to act in the best interest of the community and its citizens,” Hamilton pledged yesterday.
“Council has made a decision to hold a byelection and I see that as an opportunity for me to get back into serving the citizens in the community,” he added.
“I feel like I’m a really solid candidate.”
Hamilton admitted he did not campaign for last November’s election and that hurt him at the polls. But this time, he’s planned a “small, modest but very effective campaign” that local residents will be seeing in the coming weeks.
“It’s a very simple message—‘Vote for me, I’ll do a good job for you.’ And I’ve certainly got the skills and the ability and the experience and the education to do so,” Hamilton noted.
“The three years I spent on council, we had a very challenging first year, when we had a tremendous budget issue in front of us,” he recalled. “We worked on it very hard and it was our priority.
“And at the end of those three years, I believe the budget was balanced—we did have some tax increases that we were facing due to sewer and water—but I feel we had a fiscally-responsible system in place.
“I think we had a lot of success in those three years.
Hamilton said that beyond continued “fiscal discipline,” he would like to see the town provide more opportunities to bring young people back to Fort Frances and have families here.
“One of the issues is properties that are available for people; another is employment for young people and their families,” he noted.
“I know there’s lots and lots of—I would call them ‘young grandparents’—who would like to see their children and grandchildren live in Fort Frances and prosper.
“That’s a real goal. I would like to see that happen.”
Hamilton said council’s decision to hold a byelection to fill the vacancy left by Tannis Drysdale was theirs to make, and as a former councillor who also had to deal with filling an empty seat at the table, he feels it was the right one, especially considering the three years left in the current term.
“There’s no price you can put on democracy. Electing an official to represent you on town council is probably the closest thing to a democratic decision we have, even moreso than provincially or federally,” Hamilton noted.
“It’s not a decision to be taken lightly.
“If there is a bit of a cost to the democratic process, it’s money well-spent,” added Hamilton. “If council had chosen an individual that they wanted, they would have just done that.
“But they wanted the community to be involved. They wanted the democratic process, which is letting the voters decide. If they wanted one person, they would have just appointed them.”
Perry, who finished seventh in last November’s election, said he’s ready to run for council—and is working on his campaign.
“My platform hasn’t changed since the [2006] election,” said Perry. “I think I have something to offer council. Something different than maybe what’s happening right now.
“I’m not one of the ‘Good Old Boys Club,’” he vowed.
Perry stressed he has no personal agenda, and wants to work for the will of the majority. He also wants council to listen to the people. If enough of the public show support for an idea, then and only then should the idea be put forward or acted upon.
“This is a democratic country and the democratic process is not supposed to end on election day,” Perry said. “The democratic process should be all the time.
“If the public can’t have input into what’s going on with the town, that’s not very democratic.”
With vote-by-mail kits being mailed out to the electorate the week of Dec. 18, Perry said he wants the public to send in those ballots.
“Get out and vote. I want to see a good turnout for votes,” he said. “No matter who you vote for, get out and vote. Show the council what you want.
“It seems they want you to show them, so let’s show them.”
Perry ended up with 1,593 votes last November, closely followed by Hamilton, who garnered 1,552 votes—a 41-vote difference.
The deadline to file nominations papers was at 5 p.m. last Friday. Nominees then had until 5 p.m. on Monday to withdraw their nominations if they so chose.
Neither did so.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
