Town councils in both towns will have at least one new face 

By Brian Nowlin, Staff Writer

LUNENBURG – The Presidential Primary Elections and the deadline for local candidates to submit their paperwork to run for the upcoming town elections both took place on Tuesday.

The March 1 date is set so that all potential candidates will have their certificate and declaration of candidacy filed and prepared so they can be included on the May 3, 2016 ballots.

This year, all of the Kenbridge Town Council members will be up for election or re-election along with the position of Mayor. Current Mayor Emory Hodges has qualified to seek re-election to that position and he will be running unopposed outside of an unlikely write-in campaign from someone. The town council positions will see some changes as at least one new face will be stepping in with Tom Palmore not running this year. The list of candidates who have qualified to run are current members Ken Blackburn, Cathy Gilley, Raymond Hite, Jr., Danny Thompson and newly appointed member Mike Bender.

The new candidates for this election include Mike McGrath, Aasiz Ibrahim and Tony Sandy.

In Victoria, Mayor Carol Watson has qualified to run and looks to continue in that position with the town as she will be running unopposed, like her counterpart in Kenbridge. As for the town council, there are three seats up for grabs this year and only two returning candidates seek to stay in those spots. Ron Mattox and Sandra Jones are both looking to remain in their positions with the town, but Lee Scott will not be running this year.

The new faces that are seeking to be elected to the town council include Chris Gill and Robert Kassel, who have turned in the proper paperwork to be included on the upcoming ballot.