Four mayors are voted out in Charlotte County municipalities

Voters in most Charlotte County municipalities opted for change in local elections on May 10. According to results posted by Elections New Brunswick, Councillor Bonnie Morse won an upset with 862 votes over long time incumbent Dennis Greene with 199 for mayor of Grand Manan. On Campobello, challenger Harvey Matthews beat incumbent Mayor Brett Newman by only six votes, 174 to 168.
In St. Andrews, Deputy Mayor Brad Henderson defeated incumbent Mayor Doug Naish with 719 votes to 200. In St. George, challenger John Detorakis won 222 votes, beating former Mayor Sharon Tucker with 197 and incumbent Mayor Faith Avery with 137.
Voters went to the polls in municipal, district education council and regional health authority elections on May 10, but the results were not released until May 25 when people in northwest New Brunswick, where the provincial authorities postponed elections during a COVID 19 outbreak, got to vote, too. Elections New Brunswick took until well after midnight to post the final results from tabulation machines stored securely in Fredericton for 15 days following the elections in most of the province.
Morse, who works for the Grand Manan Fishermen's Association, will preside over a new nine member village council comprised of Roger Fitzsimmons, Jayne Turner, Philman Green, Daniel Boyd, Gregg Russell, Jordy Leighton, Trish Toll, Joanne Brown and Cara Greenlaw. Fitzsimmons is the only incumbent returning to the village council, other than Morse, who becomes mayor.
On Campobello Island, Alex Carroll won the councillor at large seat and Elizabeth Butler the Ward 2 seat on the rural community council by acclamation. Kyle Fletcher won in Ward 1 with 81 votes, a large margin over Patrick Mitchell with 26. Dianne Parker beat Jordan Cline, 79 votes to 46, in Ward 3. Campobello Island has not had a local elected government since the rural community council lost its quorum last year.
In St. Andrews, Henderson will preside over a six member town council comprised of Steve Neil, Kate Akagi, Kurt Gumushel, Lee Heenan, Marc Blanchard and James Hirtle. Akagi and Gumushel are incumbents.
In St. George, Detorakis will preside over a six member town council comprised of Barbara Rayner, Sam Rubin, Brenda Allison, Alexa Detorakis, Leslie Armstrong and Nancy Coulton. Allison was the only incumbent other than Avery to re-offer.
In Blacks Harbour, former St. Andrews Mayor John Craig beat former village chief administrative officer Heather Chase, 263 to 127, in the contest for mayor. Craig will preside over a five member village council comprised of Adam Hatt, Ashley Ritchie, Amber Libby, Gerald Welles and Jordan Thompson. No incumbents won reelection. Incumbent Mayor Terry James lost her bid to win a seat on the village council.
That leaves St. Stephen, where Allan MacEachern handily won a second term as mayor with 763 votes compared to 241 for challenger Vernon Card. The entire town council - Phil Chisholm, Marg Harding, David Hyslop, Ken Parker, Vic Thiessen and Ghislaine Wheaton - won by acclamation. Thiessen is the only newcomer, with the others all incumbents.
Turnouts tend to be low in New Brunswick local elections, but the six Charlotte County communities beat the provincial average reported at 30%. Elections New Brunswick reported the turnout at 63.8% in St. Andrews, 58% on Grand Manan, 55.8% in Blacks Harbour, 49% in St. George, 48.5% on Campobello Island and only 31.9% in St. Stephen.
Wayne Arthur Spires of Moores Mills returned by acclamation to his seat on the Anglophone South District Education Council for subdistrict 1, covering western Charlotte County. Amanda Henderson Matthews of Wilson's Beach won by acclamation in subdistrict 12 covering the Fundy Isles. In subdistrict 2, the eastern half of the county, incumbent Shelly Merrill MacKillop of St. George beat challenger Adam Hatt of Blacks Harbour, 550 votes to 464.
Incumbent Linda Forestell of Saint John, with 6,450 votes, handily beat four other contenders to sit on the Horizon Regional Health Authority board representing subregion B3, which includes Charlotte County.