The results are in from the Essex by-election, with Ron Rogers taking the majority of votes to become the new ward three councillor in Colchester-South–Harrow.
Rogers was on hand at the Harrow and Colchester-South Community Centre Monday night when the results were posted by town officials.
"I'm looking forward to sitting with council and seeing what we can do," said Rogers, minutes after learning he’d collected 555 votes. The next closest candidates were Rodney Hammond with 250 votes, and Mike Jenner, with 237 votes. Richard Kokovai rounded out the list with 25 votes.
Rogers replaces Bill Caixeiro, who resigned his council seat abruptly in July, citing personal reasons. The seat has been vacant ever since.
Rogers is no stranger to municipal politics. He previously served on council for 11 years prior to and after amalgamation. He also serves on a number of boards and committees in the community.
The veteran politician tells CTV News he hopes to bring a level of calm to the sometimes heated Essex Town Council meetings.
“He can sit right in there,” said Essex mayor McDermott after the by-election results were released. “He’ll be right up to snuff in no time.”
In total, 1,067 votes were counted, which puts voter turnout for the $12,000 to $15,000 by-election at roughly 20 per cent.
“Now the biggest thing is our staff can get back to work. A lot of hours spent doing this. Obviously, the person we thought would get elected got elected – by a large majority,” said McDermott.
Rogers tells CTV News he would like to focus on the basics: keeping taxes low and fixing infrastructure around town.
"I think the current council has done some great things for the whole town, but especially on ward three as well and I want to keep up with that and just keep moving us forward and see what we can do going forward," he said.
Rogers will be officially sworn in on Oct. 30.
The municipal-wide election is slated for 2018. Rogers said it's safe to assume he'll be running in the next that election, as well.
