KENORA — Andrew Poirier will be the new mayor of Kenora.
The three-term councillor took 64 per cent of the vote with unofficial results in on Monday night.
Poirier will succeed Dan Reynard, who chose not to seek re-election.
Andy Scribilo, the president of the Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce, was the runner-up with 25 per cent of the vote.
David Byers finished third with just under 11 per cent of the vote.
In an interview with NWOnewswatch, Poirier said he was very happy when he saw the results.
“I thought as the campaign progressed it was starting to look like I might be successful, so here I am. I’m successful and looking forward to getting down to work with the new council and pushing our agendas through,” he said.
Poirier said while everyone campaigned on good ideas, he thought his experience on municipal council — which his opponents lacked — likely pushed him over the top.
“I could boast that I had experience sitting around a council table and working on budgets, and passing bylaws, and dealing with hard issues for the last 11 years,” he said. “It counts a lot when you’re looking at occupying the mayors chair, that’s in any community, any city. It makes a huge difference. I think people saw that in me.”
He said the new council will get together on Wednesday for orientation. “We’re going to begin to have discussions about where we see this council going once we’re sworn in on [Nov. 15]."
Poirier said he celebrated the election victory on Monday night at Bob’s Burgers on Main Street in Kenora with a group of people he invited.
Kenora will have an almost entirely new council, consisting of newly elected councillors-elect Barb Manson, Lisa Moncrief, Bob Bernie, Kelsie Van Belleghem, and Lindsay Koch. Graham Chaze, is the only incumbent returning.
