Mayor Berry Vrbanovic given third term by Kitchener residents

While there will be several new faces on Kitchener city council this fall, Berry Vrbanovic will remain at the head of the table.

The Kitchener mayor was unofficially elected to the office for a third time on Monday night, as he held off challenges from Rehman-Ullah Kahn, Manikantan Nair, Val Neekman and Milos Sokollu Posavljak, according to results posted on the City of Kitchener’s website.

He was first elected to the mayor’s office in 2014 after having served as councillor for two decades in Ward 2.

Before he filed his paperwork, Vrbanovic said that he believed that some of the major issues going forward for the city over the next four years will include homelessness, mental health, sustainability and climate change.

There will be change to Kitchener council this fall as Ward 3 Coun. John Gazzola, Ward 5 Coun. Kelly Galloway Sealock and Ward 10 Coun. Sarah Marsh chose not to seek re-election.

All three races had close finishes with Ayo Owodunni edging Jon Massimi and Ajmer Mandur in Ward 5 and Jason Denault finishing on top of a tight six-way race in Ward 3.

Aislinn Clancy will take Marsh’s seat in Ward 10 as she finished less than 150 votes ahead of Stephanie Stretch.

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In all of the other wards, the incumbents have been unofficially re-elected.

Only 20.26 per cent of eligible voters went to the polls in Kitchener.

The following are the unofficial winners of the Kitchener mayor and councilor races:

Kitchener Mayor (x denotes incumbent) (Unoffical winners in bold)

Rehman-Ullah Kahn
Manikantan Nair
Val Neekman
Milos Sokollu Posavljak
Berry Vrbanovic x

Kitchener Ward 1

Alan Becirevic
Scott Davey x
Prashant Deol
Simon Guthrie

Kitchener Ward 2

Derrick Rabethge
Dave Schnider x
Asher Shazad

Kitchener Ward 3

Rosanne Berwick
Jason Denault
Matthew Griffin
Devon Harnarian
Marijo Howard
Bryan Richardson

Kitchener Ward 4

Ali Akbar
Christine Michaud x
John Vandonk

Kitchener Ward 5

Ajmer Mandur
John Massimi
Farah Muhammad
Naveed Najmuddin
Ayo Owodunni

Kitchener Ward 6

Anwar Arkani
Paul Singh x

Kitchener Ward 7

Bill Ioannidis x
Colin Maley
Kevin Mcrea

Kitchener Ward 8

Aleena Aftab
Margaret Johnston x

Kitchener Ward 9

Debbie Chapman x
David Redman
Brooklin Wallis
Alex Shevchenko
Beth Warren

Kitchener Ward 10

Aislinn Clancy
Peter Davis
Daniel Fife
Stephanie Stretch
Lana Hiscock
Phong Tran

1:50 Ontario residents head to polls in municipal elections