It's shaping up to be a much more competitive race for seats at the Delta council table and on the Delta school board.
As of Tuesday morning, 17 candidates had filed their nomination papers at municipal hall for next month's civic election. With just days before the Friday deadline, that number is expected to increase significantly.
In the race for the mayor's chair, four-term incumbent Lois Jackson, former five-term councillor Krista Engelland and current councillor Heather King have officially filed. The trio is expected to be joined by Renew Delta's John Meech, another declared candidate who has yet to file.
This election is guaranteed to produce at least one new face on council with King vacating her seat to run for mayor. All other incumbent councillors had filed by Tuesday.
Bruce McDonald and Anne Peterson are running as independents, while fellow incumbents Ian Paton, Scott Hamilton and Robert Campbell are all members of Jackson's Delta Independent Voters Association slate.
Newcomers hoping to win a council seat that have filed include Sylvia Bishop, Scott Broderick and Neil Corbett. Former councillor Jeannie Kanakos has also filed.
Other council candidates that have declared but have not yet filed their papers include Andrew Conley, Ranjit Heer, Garth Cuthbert and Fabian Milat, who's also running for re-election on the Delta school board.
School board candidates that had filed as of Tuesday include incumbents Janet Shauntz and Laura Dixon and newcomers Carroll Allan, Andy Basi and Malcolm Smillie.
The rest of the incumbents are also expected to run again along with newcomers Val Windsor and Donna Burke.
The municipal election will be held Nov. 19.
