There's less than a month left to toss one's hat into the municipal election ring. And so far in St. Marys, the race is fairly open, with only Coun. Marg Luna having filed her papers to run for a third consecutive term on town council. (Luna was unavailable for comment as of press time).
The deadline to file one's election papers is Friday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. The nomination forms are available at town hall, from clerk Lizet Scott. The cost to run is $100 for council, and $200 for mayor, which is payable  by cash, debit, certified cheque or money order. Municipal election, as well as election for school board positions, is Monday, Oct. 25.
To be a qualified candidate, a person must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old, a resident of St. Marys (or the owner or tenant of land), or spouse of such owner or tenant; not legally prohibited from voting, and not disqualified by any legislation from holding municipal office.
Friday, Sept. 10 is also a pivotal day for the current council, as, depending on how many councillors choose to run again, council may be limited in its decision-making ability, says CAO Rob Brindley.
Brindley explains that under the Municipal Act, 75 per cent of the current council must be running again for council to continue with its regular powers.
However, “we will not know if council is a 'lame duck' until Sept. 10,” says Brindley.
If something is approved in the municipal budget, regardless of the dollar amount, a “lame duck” council can still go ahead with the project. Otherwise, financial decisions over $50,000 can't be made by council (unless they are emergency measures, such as repairing a broken water main), and that includes land-based decisions.
“That said, council can give the CAO and clerk certain powers before the 10th,” says Brindley. “If there are certain things they want me to do, they can give me that authority until the new council is sworn in,” likely in early December. 
Council's first September meeting will take place a week earlier than usual, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, so that if any powers need be granted, they can be before the Sept. 10 deadline. But Brindley doesn't foresee many large transactions on council's horizon this fall.
“This year, there's not a lot of things I'm anticipating,” he told the Journal Argus. “Most of our larger projects were tied to funding, and they're all underway or have been completed,” such as refurbishing of the Quarry and Cadzow pool, lining of the water tower, and upgrades to the sewage treatment plant.
He adds that the only large item that could come up on the council agenda in the next few months is that the Avon Maitland District School Board may put the Arthur Meighen and Central school sites on the market.
While Brindley says that, according to his sources, this is unlikely, “if they became available, council would have to empower me to look at an acquisition… and council hasn't even discussed it.”
New voting technology
When voters do go to the polls on Oct. 25, they will benefit from a new voting system. While the ballot will still be a paper one, the format will enable it to be fed into a computer to “enable us to count the results more efficiently and faster,” says Brindley, so that results can be determined earlier on election night.
The town paid about $13,000 for the machine and software, going with the sole Canadian company that has the technology. After each ballot is filled out, the voter places it into a folder, which is then fed into a machine by a polling station representative for the results to be recorded. 
“We didn't want to go fully electronic,” says Brindley. “We wanted to be able to fall back on a paper ballot in case there is a recount.”
Many return to Perth South race
Many incumbents are seeking to return to Perth South council come Oct. 25. Current councillors Roger Fuhr and Bob Wilhelm are both seeking the mayor’s seat. Councillors James Aitcheson and Stuart Arkett are running again to represent Downie ward, while Liz Armstrong is seeking re-election to represent Blanshard Ward. Newcomer Don Henderson also hopes to claim a council position representing Blanshard.
Perth South voters have a new voting option this year -- casting their vote by mail. Eligible voters should receive a kit by Oct. 7; ballots from the kit are then sent to the Perth South municipal office in St. Paul’s for counting on election day (voters can also drop off these ballots to the office by election day). If voters did not receive a kit or if they have further questions about the process, they can call CAO/clerk Tim Ivanyshyn at 519-271-0619, ext. 231.
Look for more information on all the municipal candidates in an upcoming edition of the Journal Argus.