Niagara-on-the-Lake voters are one tough crowd.

And, given the town’s uneven electoral history, we’re not sure the voters will ever be happy — or satisfied.

For nearly 20 years now, when handed the opportunity to give the town’s lord mayor a second consecutive term, the NOTL citizenry has instead chosen the “throw the bums out” strategy.

Once again this year, after the Oct. 26 election, we won’t have an incumbent lording it over our little (but growing) town.

And despite the fact we’ve continually decided to replace the incumbent with fresh blood (or at least a new lord mayor), the townsfolk appear thoroughly unhappy with their choices in short order.

Within a year or two, the peasants are revolting.

A bit of history.

Four years ago, in 2022, regional Coun. Gary Zalepa was the answer to all the development and other headaches people felt were plaguing NOTL.

So, it was out with Betty Disero, in a landslide, as Zalepa won by 3,724 votes to 2,586, earning almost 50 per cent of the ballots cast.

Vaughn Goettler, whose baby blue “full-time lord mayor” signs have sprouted up all over town this year, was a distant third, with just over 1,200 votes.

Now, Zalepa is not on the ballot, though he’s hoping to be appointed chair of Niagara Region.

Way back in 2018, after one term as a councillor following a long career in Toronto politics, Disero was “the answer,” defeating Pat Darte 4,169 votes to 2,743.

But in 2014, Darte had been the man chosen to lead council, unseating Dave Eke 3,627 votes to 2,723.

In 2010, Eke had beaten Darte 2,310 votes to 1,557, succeeding the town’s last multi-term lord mayor, Gary Burroughs.

Burroughs did the job from 2000 to 2010, then decided to run for the (now-defunct) position of regional councillor. He subsequently became regional chair, serving four years from 2010 to 2014.

Now over 80, Burroughs is again running for town council and won’t be surprised if he tops the polls and becomes deputy lord mayor.

But since his long tenure in the top job, starting way back at the turn of this century, no one has been able to earn the voters’ confidence for a second term as mayor.

Why is that?

Is there a problem with the candidates? Are the wrong sorts of folks offering themselves up for public service? Are the voters of NOTL simply impossible to satisfy? Or …?

Perhaps there are other reasons we keep tossing out the mayoral incumbent.

Whatever the case, we urge everyone to learn more about each of those seeking to lead NOTL into the second quarter of this century.

And dig beyond the rhetoric and promises — because given our electoral track record since 2010, every time we’ve bought what was being sold, buyer’s remorse has set in pretty quickly.

Besides Goettler, we have regional Coun. Andrea Kaiser on the ballot, along with Coun. Erwin Wiens, the deputy lord mayor this past term.

All three have upsides and downsides, and all three are greater than the sum of the headlines or rhetorical talking points that can dominate the discourse.

Between now and voting day, we’ll have more to say about this election and the candidates seeking your support.

But, really, it is up to each individual to invest the time and energy and decide who might be the best choice to lead our town.

Municipal politics is the most basic, grassroots level of governance yet, ironically, it is the one that in most communities attracts the lowest engagement and poorest voter turnout.

NOTL is an outlier in that regard as our turnout is often double that of other municipalities.

That’s heartening.

Now, let’s get beyond the “throw the bums out” mentality and remember that, with the province unapologetically pushing all manner of development no matter what municipal leaders want, NOTL’s powers are limited — despite the chatter you hear.

That’s not to suggest we throw in the towel but rather that we try to determine exactly who is the best person to shepherd us for the next four (or more) years.

NOTL’s future is worth it.