Ward 8 was getting a new city councillor no matter what happened in the municipal election and the constituents made it interesting in the process.
Jim Harris won the ward with 998 votes, beating second-place finisher Brad Thompson by nine votes.
BarrieToday spoke with Harris, who was admittedly still shocked by the numbers.
“I’m getting lots of congratulatory calls and the results are in, but my goodness, that was close,” said Harris. “I am very happy with the entire process and obviously feel good that the residents in the ward put their trust in me to help lead Ward 8 through the next four years.”
Ward 8 was getting a new councillor regardless of the outcome, as it was one of two wards in the city where the incumbent, Arif Khan in Ward 8's case, was not seeking re-election.
Harris finished with 30.78%, Thompson 30.51%, Brian Miller 23.29% and Shelly Skinner with 15.42%.
Harris was born and raised in Barrie and resides in the ward he will now lead with his family. Harris was the director of operations for the Canadian Mental Health Association and has a lot of experience with committees and councils and hopes to bring that experience to Barrie city council.
“I looked at the results and noticed a lot of changes to the current council,” said Harris. “I feel like we will have to work harder than ever before to make things work as so many new faces will surround the mayor; it will take a great amount of teamwork to get things going.”
