Candidates for the October municipal elections continue to make their intentions known.
Incumbent officeholders, and those seeking their jobs, have kicked off their candidacies in all of Windsor-Essex's municipalities. Applicants have until July 27 to file their papers.
BlackburnNewsWindsor.com has been tracking the candidates since nominations opened in May. Each section will focus on a specific municipality.
Windsor
Incumbent mayor Drew Dilkens has yet to announce his intentions for this election, but four people have already expressed interest in the mayor's chair at the new City Hall.
Businessmen Tom Hensel and Matt Marchand are in the running for mayor, as is perennial candidate Ernie (The Baconman) Lamont and retired farmer Frank Dyck.
On city council, one councillor, Ward 8's Bill Marra, has already announced he will not run again, while another, Ward 2's John Elliott, is the only incumbent with his hat thrown into the ring.
Two candidates, both in their 20s, have filed to run in Ward 5, a seat currently held by Ed Sleiman. Joey Wright previously ran for the seat in 2014, while Lillian Kruszely most recently worked in the Canadian Senate in Ottawa.
In Ward 6, Josh Jacquot has declared his intentions to run against council veteran Jo-Anne Gignac.
Two people, Greg Lemay and Kathryn McConnell, have already announced they will run to replace Marra in Ward 8.
Xavier Gonzalez, who ran in Ward 9 in 2014, is giving it another go. He was one of the first people to file when nominations opened in May. Also running in Ward 9 is Alex Aggerwal.
In Ward 10, retired bank executive Jim Morrison is running, hoping to improve on his narrow loss to Paul Borrelli four years ago. Mohamed Chams is also in the race.
Amherstburg
Mayor Aldo DiCarlo has already declared for a second four-year term, and he is currently running unopposed.
In the race for deputy mayor, current councillor Leo Meloche is looking for a promotion. Also running is Bob Rozankovic, the chairman of the Amherstburg Police Services Board. Current Deputy Mayor Bart DiPasquale has not announced whether he will run.
The four remaining at-large councillors have yet to file papers. Three people have filed to run for council, Marc Renaud, Gregory Moore and former union head Lori Wightman.
Essex
Long-time mayor Ron McDermott has not filed to run again and has hinted in the past that he may retire. However, there are two candidates already running as potential successors. Current Ward 3 co-councillor Larry Snively is running, along with businessman Rob Shepley.
Richard Meloche is running again for deputy mayor, who will be voted on at-large in this election. So far, he's running unopposed.
Ward 1 co-councillor Steve Bjorkman is running again, but for one of the two seats in Ward 3. Tom Holland, Phil Pocock and Fred Groves have declared to run for one of the Ward 1 council seats. Incumbent Randy Voakes, who holds the other Ward 1 seat, has not yet announced his intentions.
There are two declared contestants for the Ward 2 position -- Kim Verbeek and Mark Williams.
Also in Ward 3, Ron Rogers, who was elected in a by-election, has not decided whether to run for a full term. Former councillor Paul Innes has declared in the ward, along with retired journalist Chris Vander Doelen.
Sherry Bondy, the Ward 4 incumbent, is running for another term.
Kingsville
Current Mayor Nelson Santos officially filed for re-election last week, though he expressed his interest to do so in May.
Incumbent Deputy Mayor Gord Queen is also running again.
For council at-large, three of the incumbents have turned in their papers, Tony Gaffan, Tom Neufeld and Larry Patterson. Suzanne Coghill has not made her decision yet, nor has John Dreidger, who joined council last year following a by-election.
Jackie Kerr, John Lein and Laura Lucier have so far declared to run for council.
Lakeshore
The dean of Essex County politicians, Tom Bain, is currently running for another term unopposed. He will not seek another term as Essex County warden, however.
For deputy mayor, incumbent Al Fazio has not announced if he will run again, but Ward 4 Councillor Tracey Bailey is seeking a promotion and has declared for the position.
Town councillors Steven Wilder, Len Janisse and Linda MacKinlay are running unopposed for re-election in Wards 1, 2 and 6 respectively. In Ward 3, Kelsey Santarossa has filed to run for the seat currently held by Dave Monk, who has yet to declare.
Bailey's desire to run for deputy mayor will leave the Ward 4 seat vacant. Four candidates have announced for that race so far, Romeo Beaulieu, Paddy Byrne, Susan Dozois and Jennifer-Jane Poisson.
In Ward 5, Dan Diemer has not yet announced for re-election. Two candidates have entered for that seat, Tim McDermitt and Wayne Rose.
LaSalle
Mayor Ken Antaya has already announced that he will retire at the end of the current term. Deputy Mayor Marc Bondy is so far the only candidate vying to succeed him.
With Bondy seeking the mayor's chair, councillor Crystal Meloche wants to move up herself. She is currently the only one running for deputy mayor.
Three of the current at-large councillors, Mike Akpata, Sue Desjarlais and Jeff Renaud, will run again in October. A fourth, Terry Burns, has not declared.
Three additional people are seeking a seat on council, Adrien Bezaire, Mark Carrick and Sam Sleiman.
Leamington
All current members of the municipality's council have filed to run, but in various capacities.
Mayor John Paterson will have a challenge by current deputy mayor Hilda MacDonald. With MacDonald's job opening up, current councillor Larry Verbeke has filed to occupy it.
The remaining at-large councillors are Bill Dunn, John Hammond, John Jacobs and Tom Wilkinson. There are three challengers for council, Derek Freissen, Heather Latam and Brian Scott.
Tecumseh
All current office holders have sent in their papers to run again, beginning with mayor Gary McNamara and deputy mayor Joe Bachetti.
Councillors Andrew Dowie, Rita Ossington, Brian Houston and Tania Jobin, along with Ward 2's Bill Altenhof, who was elected in a by-election to succeed the late Mike Rohrer; will run again.
There is one challenger so far. Dwayne Ellis is running for the Ward 3 seat currently held by Ossington.
Previously, the town had four wards with Ward 1 represented by Ossington and Dowie. This ward has been split for this election.
The election is October 22.
