An extremely narrow victory in Sturgeon County Tuesday night could result in a recount after Dave Kluthe secured the Division 4 seat by a seven-vote margin.
Kluthe’s challenger Al Homeniuk said he simply hasn’t made up his mind yet about whether to ask for the votes to be counted after the unofficial tally put him at 340 votes to Kluthe’s 347.
“I am considering my options rights now,” said Homeniuk. “I had 340 people vote for me and I have to decide what is in their best interest.”
Kluthe said the close numbers stunned him when they were finally announced late Monday night. He said he believes some of his supporters stayed home assuming he would win.
“I think a lot of people were simply complacent.”
He said in the ends the results were good and he is not focusing on the numbers.
Under the Local Authorities Election Act, Homeniuk has 44 hours in which to ask for a recount. The local returning officer can also start a recount without such a request, but Sturgeon spokesperson Calli Stromner said officials haven’t elected to do that in this case.
“There were no anomalies or spoiled ballots or anything like that that would make [the returning officer] want to conduct one,” said Stromner.
Kluthe said the campaign has been a good one and he looks forward to getting down to work on the issue residents told him about.
“The thing that I have heard the most from residents about is the roads,” said Kluthe.
Both candidates said the campaign had been fair and about the issues.
“It was very well done on his part,” said Kluthe of Homeniuk. “There were no dirty politics.”
The race in Division 5 was also fairly close, but incumbent Joe Milligan still had a wide margin of victory with 364 votes compared to 314 for Wayne Bullock, the county’s former director of transportation.
Milligan said he was pleased to be returning to council chambers and planned to continue working for residents.
“We are going to continue on the platform that I laid out and work with the new council.”
Incumbent Ken McGillis was the only clear winner on the night with a resounding victory over his challenger, 21-year-old Catlin Letendre.
McGillis netted 479 votes compared to Letendre’s 105.
The now three-term councillor said he was happy with the turnout and the outcome of the vote.
Residents expressed some clear concerns about the road situation in Sturgeon County and the Heartland Transmission Project, in particular, he said.
He said with most of council returning, he doesn’t expect a big change.
“I don’t see the dynamics changing very much at all.”
There was a total of 1,949 votes cast across the three county divisions.
Mayor Don Rigney as well as councillors Don McGeachy, Tom Flynn and Karen Shaw were all acclaimed.
