Sunday was a family day for Bill Mills after being re-elected as mayor for the Town of Truro. Spending much of the day at the family home with Mills and his wife, Phyllis, were the couple’s two twin granddaughters, Lexi (front left) and Nadia, and Dennis (back), Karen and Joanne.
Mills won back his mayor’s seat in Saturday’s election, with 1,827 votes. His closest rival, Keltie Jones, was hot on his heels with 1,782.
Results are deemed unofficial until they are verified in the next day or so.
“I feel really good,” Mills said Sunday. “It was a good campaign.”
Along with Mills and Jones, 428 votes were cast for Raymond Tynes, with Albert McNutt picking up 240.
“I talked to Keltie (Sunday afternoon) and congratulated her on her showing. I appreciate her as a person, and appreciate her leadership skills and desire to move the town forward. She’s a woman of integrity.”
The town will see four councillors – Cheryl Fritz, Tom Chisholm, Brian Kinsman and Danny Joseph – return to the table, with newcomers Wayne Talbot and Cathy Hinton joining them.
“The past council accomplished a lot, and I think the citizens will recognize we now have to take a step back – there are medium- and small-sized things that need attention now,” said Mills.
This was the second time Jones had challenged Mills for the mayor’s seat, and the closest she’s come to winning.
“I think it’s pretty clear the town is interested in change, but unfortunately that didn’t happen,” said Jones. “Eventually, it has to change.”
She said four years is a long time, so she isn’t prepared to make any commitment at this point if she’ll offer her name the next time around. Tynes also didn’t want to comment on future offerings.
“Four years…a lot of things can happen in four years,” he said. “I’m going to take a few days and think things over, and see what shakes from that.”
He said one is always disappointed when they don’t get the result they wanted, “but the people spoke. The voters spoke and are basically happy with the status quo.”
Out of those eligible to vote, only 45.6 per cent did so, which also disappointed Tynes.
“I just wish the mayor and council all the best. Everybody, regardless of their position, had the town’s best interest at heart,” he said.
When it comes to McNutt, he said he’s proud of the campaign he ran.
“I did my best and I felt I had some good issues and communication with constituents on the campaign trail,” he said. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to move some of those concerns forward myself, but I will make sure I share those concerns with council.
“I wanted to provide voters with some other option, and I think I did that. The voters made their choice and that’s the main thing.”
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
