Niagara-on-the-Lake’s council race kept growing right up to Friday’s 2 p.m. nomination deadline — and for at least one of the three final-day entries, that was the plan.
Nicholas Colaneri arrived at town hall around 1 p.m. to submit his nomination papers, about an hour before the 2 p.m. cutoff.
Rick Mills followed at about 1:40 p.m.
Karen Jones-Taylor also registered Friday, rounding out the final-day additions and bringing the field to 11 candidates, each seeking one of six council seats.
Incumbent councillors Tim Balasiuk, Adriana Cater-Vizzari, Gary Burroughs, Sandra O’Connor, Maria Mavridis and Andrew Niven are seeking re-election, while Colaneri, Mills and Jones-Taylor join Weston Miller and Steve McGuinness as challengers.
Coun. Wendy Cheropita is the only sitting councillor not seeking a spot on the next council, while Coun. Erwin Wiens, also the deputy lord mayor, is giving up his council seat to run for lord mayor.
NOTL residents are also guaranteed a new lord mayor. Incumbent Gary Zalepa is not seeking re-election, leaving Andrea Kaiser, Vaughn Goettler and Wiens in the race to replace him.
Zalepa has instead thrown his hat in the ring to become Niagara Region’s next chair, a position the provincial government plans to appoint a person for immediately after the Oct. 26 municipal election.
The final candidate list also means the current council appears to have avoided Ontario’s so-called “lame-duck” restrictions for now, which would have limited some of its powers ahead of the election.
The test happens again after the Oct. 26 election. If fewer than six members of the current council are elected to the next council, the restrictions would kick in until the new council is sworn in Nov. 24.
Council approved a backup plan last month for that possibility. If the restrictions come into effect, some of council’s hiring and firing, property sale and spending powers would temporarily shift to chief administrative officer Nick Ruller.
While the filings came down to the wire, Colaneri said his decision didn’t.
“I’ll be honest about my submission timing. It was deliberate,” he told The Lake Report Friday.
“There are people in this town who are very comfortable with how things have operated and who’d rather this race stay quiet and predictable than have someone at the table who’s already shown he’ll ask hard questions.”
Colaneri said he wanted his candidacy secured before people opposed to his run had time to react.
“I wanted my decision locked in before it could be picked apart, second-guessed or worked around by anyone who didn’t want me in this race,” he said.
He also criticized what he sees as a broader pattern in how decisions are made in NOTL.
“I’ve spent the last while fighting the same pattern in different fights,” Colaneri said.
He pointed to closed-door decisions, residents being told to trust a process he says hasn’t earned their trust and rules that he says bend for “those with money and connections.”
The town clerk will certify nominations by 4 p.m. Monday. Election day is Oct. 26, with voting from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Official results will be declared the following day.
As part of the election campaign, the NOTL Residents Association is hosting a series of candidate forums in September and October at Crossroads Elementary School.
The forum for lord mayor candidates is set for Monday, Sept. 14, 5 to 9 p.m., while two forums will be held for councillor candidates — with the 11 candidates divided into two groups — on Friday, Sept. 25 and Friday, Oct. 2, both from 5 to 9 p.m.
