Chris McDonell elected as next mayor of North Glengarry

Chris McDonell climbs from his former post as deputy mayor into the mayor's chair this week after being elected by voters in North Glengarry Township as their next head of council.

"I'd like to thank the people that came out to support me, who worked for me, almost everybody in general," he said during a victory speech at the Glengarry Sports Palace in Alexandria.

Support for candidates in the Monday, January 16 by-election was largely divided, with McDonell receiving 1,517 votes - or 52 per cent of the vote - to secure the win.

Councillor Jamie MacDonald received 1,405 votes, or 48 per cent. He is expected to be appointed by council as the township's next deputy mayor.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll be right there to support him and do whatever he needs me to do as our new mayor," said MacDonald. "I'm proud of him. I want to thank my family; it was a difficult time campaigning during Christmas, obviously not the most pleasurable time to run a campaign, but so be it."

McDonell shared similar thoughts, saying he was ready to get back to work and hoped "we can run a good council."

"We work for the township, not ourselves," he stated. "We're all one, hopefully, and hopefully everything will go well."

The new mayor said he will consider "changing things around," suggesting an hour each week where the public could meet the mayor and deputy mayor at the township office.

"Other than that, I think we're going to concentrate on our roads and our water supply," he continued. "We'll try and keep things down to a bare minimum and run as smoothly as we can."

MacDonald later told The Review that the election "validated" council's initial appointment of McDonell as mayor, following Grant Crack's resignation last October.

"Chris didn't want the election and I think he should be proud that this validates his position," he said. "Instead of having three or four people validate it for him, he has the majority of voters, so it's good.

"I mean it when I say we'll be back to work tomorrow."

Voter turnout improved slightly compared to the 2010 municipal election, with 33.5 per cent of eligible voters - or 2,922 out of 8,710 - casting a ballot this year compared to 32.4 per cent (or 2,823 voters) in 2010.