MINTO: Mayor and council acclaimed ahead of election

David Anderson easily wins county council seat

Dave Turton was acclaimed as the mayor for Minto.

In Minto, most election races were over before they even started.

The mayor, deputy mayor and five council positions were all acclaimed, as they all ran unopposed in this year's municipal election.

Dave Turton has moved up the council chain, and will now lead Minto for the next four years as mayor. He was acclaimed after three-term mayor George Bridge decided not to seek re-election this time around.

Turton is used to running unopposed. He was acclaimed as the deputy mayor four years ago. He was elected town councillor in 2014.

Jean Anderson will also move up the chain of command. The two-term town councillor was acclaimed deputy mayor.

She got the most votes in the 2018 election for council, which is voted for at-large.

Three others elected to council four years ago will return to their posts: Judy Dirksen, Ron Elliott and Geoff Gunson.

Dirksen is a longtime Minto councillor, and served as deputy mayor from 2007 to 2010. Elliott has over two decades of experience in municipal politics, and is a former mayor of both Minto and Palmerston. Gunson was first elected to council in 2018 and is going into his second term.

They will be joined by newcomers Ed Podniewicz and Paul Zimmerman.

Mark Mackenzie did not seek re-election.

Meantime, there were races at the county and school board level.

David Anderson was elected to his second straight mandate in a landslide victory as Minto's representative on county council.