And The Last Shall Be First…

By Fiona McMurran

I like this live-streaming. It’s not as good as actually being present, but it’s a darn good second best.

Here’s how things went down in Regional Council Chambers this morning, Thursday, December 9.

There were five nominations, which was a bit of surprise. One presumes that Pelham’s Brian Baty decided to withdraw his name.

First out of the gate was Mark Bylsma (Lincoln), who nominated Damian Goulbourne and seconded by Ronna Katzman (St. Catharines).

Next came the nomination of Henry D’Angela, former mayor of Thorold, by his successor, Ted Luciani and seconded by Cindy Forster (Welland).

St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan then put in a nomination for St. Catharines’ regional councillor Bruce Timms.

Selina Volpatti, regional councillor for Niagara Falls, nominated Bart Maves (Niagara Falls), with new Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs as seconder.

Last was Niagara-on-the-Lake’s former Lord Mayor, Gary Burroughs, nominated by his successor, Dave Eke and seconded by Brian McMullan.

The first ballot gave Burroughs 10 votes, Maves 7, Goulbourne 6, D’Angela 5, and Timms 2.
The second bumped Maves up to 8 and Goulbourne up to 7, with Burroughs and D’Angela staying at 10 and 5, respectively.

On the third ballot, Burroughs had the support of 12 councillors, Maves 10 and Goulbourne 8.
The fourth ballot saw Burroughs as the clear winner, with 19 votes to Maves’ 11.

So the Region has unequivocally chosen one of its own, a moderate rather than a neo-con, and one who (we hope) will oppose any move to put the mid-pen highway back on the agenda. Maves gave by far the best performance – He actually put forward a carefully-though-out platform—but he’s a young man, with a lot of time to test himself in municipal waters (which can be at least as shark-infested as provincial politics, at least around these parts).

I’d look for Maves to stir things up, in a good way.

Fiona McMurran is a Welland resident, a frequent contributor to Niagara At Large and a keen follower of local politics.

(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary of interest and concern to resident in our greater binational Niagara region.)