For the first time in two decades, Gary Zalepa’s name won’t be on the ballot for this fall’s municipal election, but his career in local politics could be far from over.

Niagara-on-the-Lake’s incumbent lord mayor has thrown his hat in the ring for the job of chair of Niagara Region.

Immediately after the Oct. 26 municipal election, Premier Doug Ford’s government plans to appoint the heads of eight regions across southern Ontario.

It is the biggest change to the regional government model since Premier Bill Davis introduced the concept in the 1970s.

Besides Niagara, the province also plans to appoint new chairs for four-year terms in Durham, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Waterloo, York and Simcoe County.

The move eliminates Niagara’s 19 elected regional councillors and gives the appointed head of council “strong chair” powers as part of the Tories’ strategy to streamline government operations.

“I have applied for the regional chair position,” Zalepa told The Lake Report on Wednesday from Ottawa where he was attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual conference.

Zalepa’s interest in the regional job has been somewhat of an open secret over the past month or two and some political sources across Niagara consider him a frontrunner for the job.

His experience as a member of regional council and his skills as a policy-focused leader are seen as major assets by insiders.

Still, he faces some competition for the post.

Sources say that outgoing St. Catharines regional Coun. Peter Secord and retiring Welland mayor Frank Campion also are interested in the job.

“The application process was very detailed,” Zalepa said.

“I was provided an interview that was, in my opinion, very comprehensive.”

In an interview while driving home from Ottawa, he said that when the job posting was circulated in June he had already been considering applying for it.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to put my name in as an applicant, just so I can consider (the post) if it became an option,’ ” he added.

It’s a big job — and he already has a big job working full-time in the real estate sector as senior vice-president of network development for Vancouver-based Century 21 Canada.

If he is the one chosen head the region, he said he will have to step away from the Century 21 job, possibly taking a leave or maybe even retiring.

“I haven’t made a final decision on that,” he said.

“I want to be respectful of the fact that I have a great private sector employer who is really good to me and who I have a lot of respect for,” so he’ll deal with that if and when the time comes.

Because of the confidential nature of the proceedings, led by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, political sources refused to reveal much information about the applicants or the process for choosing the successful candidates.

The so-called “strong chair” powers bestowed by the province under the Better Regional Governance Act, which was passed in May, have been decried as “undemocratic” and unnecessary by many critics. But the province kept them intact.

They mirror the “strong mayor” powers previously enacted by the Ford government and will mean the chair can propose budgets, veto bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities, direct staff, plus hire or fire key senior bureaucrats.

According to Niagara Region, the appointed chair also could propose bylaws that advance provincial priorities and only need support of one-third of regional council to approve them.

With the elimination of Niagara’s 19 elected regional representatives, when council gathers for its first meeting in November, it will be comprised solely of the area’s 12 mayors and the chair.

The province has not yet confirmed whether it will allocate council weighted voting based on population.

That might mean the Big Three cities — Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland — could effectively control the outcome of council votes and thus limit the power of the region’s small municipalities, including NOTL.

It’s another reason why some see Zalepa as a sensible choice in helping prevent the Big Three from constantly tipping the scales in their favour and dominating votes.

Erwin Wiens, NOTL’s deputy lord mayor, is one of three people running for the top job in town and he thinks Zalepa would be a good fit for regional chair.

“You need somebody who’s policy driven and has an understanding of service boards,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

Like Zalepa and some senior town staff, he was in Ottawa for the municipal conference.

“It’s a policy job, not a political job and it would be hard to find somebody that knows more about policies than Gary. I wish him luck.”

Zalepa has lived in Niagara all his life and grew up in NOTL.

The Zalepa family, including Gary Zalepa Sr., father of the current lord mayor, has been active in the Niagara real estate industry for many years.

He also has been active in NOTL politics for more than two decades and this will be the first time in 20 years that his name has not been on the municipal ballot.

Zalepa finished ninth in the 2006 election but was appointed to council in 2008 after the death of Coun. Bob Howard.

He was first elected as one of the town’s eight local councillors in 2010, but finished 10th in the race in 2014.

He then won the regional council seat in 2018 and became lord mayor when he soundly defeated Betty Disero in 2022.

With Zalepa not seeking re-election, it means NOTL has not had a multi-term mayor since Gary Burroughs held down the job from 2000 to 2010.

Burroughs remains an incumbent councillor and is running for re-election.