Arran-Elderslie voters resoundingly chose a new mayor once the ballots were counted on Monday evening.
Mayor-elect Steve Hammell captured a comfortable victory over incumbent Paul Eagleson, picking up 1,847 votes to 879 for Eagleson.
Hammell said his phone blew up as word leaked out that he had been elected.
"It feels great, my phone is currently on the charger due to all the well-wishes from family, friends and Arran-Elderslie taxpayers, it's been a great experience so far," said Hammell.
Hammell said he's looking forward to working with the new council, pointing out it's a good mix of experience and new ideas, as voters returned four members of council, while electing three newcomers.
He said the first order of business following inauguration in December will be the 2019 budget, but said they will take their time to give the new members a chance to learn on the job.
"We'll have a more in-depth budget procedure and give [the new councillors] an opportunity to see what we've been seeing for the last eight years," said Hammell. "Budget this year will be a little bit longer, a little bit more drawn-out, but we'll get through it."
The current council opted to stick with traditional paper ballots in a mail-in format, avoiding the problems plaguing neighbouring municipalities using Internet and telephone ballots, which allowed polls to close as originally scheduled.
Hammell said he's open to a discussion about Internet balloting in the future, but suspects the paper ballot will stick around in Arran-Elderslie.
