Raise your hand if the outcome of the Truro mayoral race was a lot closer than you expected.
We thought so.
After all, in 2004, the last time Mayor Bill Mills faced the electorate, he received a commanding 75 per cent of the vote.
And his opponent, Al Bégin, was a prominent local lawyer who had, by then, lived in town for nine years.
So how could Keltie Jones, a virtual newcomer to town (she moved to Truro in 2009) who was anything but a household name a few months ago, be expected to mount much of a challenge?
How likely was it that Truro, a town with a fairly conservative reputation, was going to elect its first-ever woman mayor who just happened to be a lesbian?
Well, Jones did overcome any of the real or imagined obstacles and when the dust had settled more than 46 per cent of the 4,162 Truro residents who voted opted for a changing of the guard.
She clearly and passionately articulated her stance on key issues (not all of which we agree with), possibly benefited a tad from Truro's decision to switch to all-electronic voting, certainly benefited from voter fatigue with Mills time in office and quite likely would have made a fine mayor.
Maybe next time.
In the meantime, Mills is back at the helm and for any politician to still earn 54 per cent of the vote after 15 years in the hot seat (24 as councillor) is a huge accomplishment.
Of course, some voters are tired of Mills. That goes with the territory.
And, yes, he has made some poor decisions over the years. That is bound to happen when you make enough of them.
But we believe that Mills and Truro council are doing a reasonably good job when it comes to the things they can control (although the jury is very much out regarding council's stance on the Truro Tennis Club expansion in Victoria Park).
And we also commend Mills and his Colchester County counterpart Bob Taylor for helping to foster a very positive relationship between the municipalities during the past four years.
So, like it or not, he's still the man in charge and we'll all benefit if his next term is a positive one.
Here's hoping.
