After being handily elected to fill the vacant seat on town council Monday night, Ken Perry took his declaration of office last night—marking the beginning of his almost three-year term as a councillor.
Perry garnered 1,813 votes in the municipal byelection, defeating opponent Todd Hamilton, who received 792 votes.
“I’m surprised I took as many votes as I did,” Perry said in an interview Monday night.
“I think this is as much a protest vote against council as it is a vote for me, and I think the people understand that,” he added.
He was referring to the backlash to council’s decision to hold a byelection to replace the vacancy left by former councillor Tannis Drysdale, as opposed to simply appointing the first runner-up from last November’s municipal election—namely, Perry.
That said, Perry said he wants the electorate to know he’s completely dedicated to his new role as town councillor and will act on the will of the people.
“If anybody needs anything, or have a problem they think I can help them solve, let me know and I’ll be there,” he pledged.
“I’m interested in working for the people, and working with the council to do that—that’s part of the job,” added Perry. “It goes hand in hand—you can’t do it alone.
“I think there’s going to be a big learning curve but that’s the way it is,” he continued. “It’s a new political arena. I’ve never served on council before anywhere.
“I’ve been with the Aquanauts as president, Borderland Racing as president—and still am as director and promoter—but this is a bigger arena with more important issues.”
Hamilton, who had finished a mere 41 votes behind Perry in the November municipal election, said he suffered from negative press in the Fort Frances Times.
“I learned a bit of a lesson,” he remarked Monday evening. “Somebody can write whatever they want to write about you in the newspaper and say what they want to say about you in the newspaper.
“It’s all a pack of lies [but] a lot of people believe it. There’s not much you can do about it.
“I’m not about to start writing letters back and participate in mudslinging,” he added. “But I will go on the record and say there were some total inaccuracies from Mr. Krukoski in that newspaper and I’m not going to forget about it.
“I do want to thank the people that did vote for me and sat through all the B.S. that was being thrown around,” Hamilton continued. “For the rest of the people that chose to believe that, give me a call and I’ll tell you the truth.”
While the next municipal election won’t be held until November, 2010, Hamilton said it’s possible he may run for council again.
“You can never say never,” he remarked. “Three years is a long time. That’s why held the election. Never say never.”
With a total of 2,605 valid ballots counted in the byelection, this means Perry captured 69.6 percent of the vote while Hamilton got 30.4 percent.
A total of 2,694 of return envelopes were turned into the town but 89 (or 3.3 percent) of these either were rejected or spoiled.
There were 5,628 potential voters in this municipal byelection, so voter turnout (including the spoiled and rejected ballots) was just under 48 percent—less than last election’s turnout of about 55 percent.
While mail-in ballots traditionally result in a good voter response, Treftlin speculated this slightly lower turnout was due to the fact the byelection featured only two candidates for one office (as opposed to multiple candidates for several offices).
This was the first municipal byelection Fort Frances has ever had.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
