BLACK RIVER-MATHESON - A new mayor has been elected in Black River-Matheson.
Dave Dyment won the top seat at the municipal council table in today's byelection in the Northern Ontario community. He received 728 votes.
Dyment told TimminsToday shortly after the results were released that he feels relieved.
“It's been a long, long process so I'm pretty happy it's over and I'm glad that that many people came out to vote. It obviously shows that everybody wanted a difference, and everybody that knew my platform that voted for me obviously felt comfortable in what I want to accomplish,” he said.
“I think we have a strong council. We're going to turn this town around.”
The results were posted to the township's Facebook page about 45 minutes after the polls closed.
The councillors elected are:
- Ward 1 - Bree Allen
- Ward 2 - Dan Charbonneau
- Ward 3 - Steve Campsall
- Ward 4 - Scott McCutcheon
- Ward 5 - Louise Gadoury
- Ward 6 - Alain Bouchard
Dyment celebrated his win at home alongside his wife, mother-in-law, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and four friends.
“They're feeling great. We've been sitting here refreshing Facebook for the last 40 minutes,” he said.
The byelection was called by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, who declared all of the Matheson council seats vacant after council failed to meet quorum for meetings for 60 days earlier this year. The little-used section of the Municipal Act hasn't been exercised since it took effect in the early 2000s.
Dyment was one of the councillors who spearheaded the movement that led to the byelection. He said the ability to make the change is something he’s most looking forward to in his new role.
“So now that people have voted this way, I think that moving forward it'll be a long process, but people have given us the green light, the go-ahead, to start making the changes,” he said.
“Just bear with us. We'll do our best. We'll probably make some mistakes, but we'll do our best, and we'll make everybody proud. We have a strong, strong council coming.”
The inaugural council meeting is Aug. 27 and will see the new council members sworn in. They will serve until the October 2026 municipal election.
