Police chief steps down from mayoral race
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Aylmer Police Chief Zvonko Horvat has withdrawn his name from the mayoral race in Norfolk just days after announcing his intention to run in the Oct. 24 municipal election.
Horvat said Friday that checked his eligibility to run for the political position and believed he was allowed but a section of the Police Services Act showed he would have to resign his job in Aylmer in order to run.
“Due to the current operational and succession planning needs of the service, I opted not to resign,” Horvat said.
“I don’t want to leave on a bad note.”
The act says a municipal police officer can run for office in a different municipality or in their own municipality if they take a leave of absence, so Horvat thought he was permitted. But another section of the act excludes the chief and deputy chief of a police service from running.
“My option was to withdraw my nomination or resign from the service,” said Horvat.
“This was completely my error and I take full responsibility for the oversight.”
Horvat’s contract in Aylmer is up early in 2023 and he planned to leave policing if he won the Norfolk mayor’s job.
He said a new hire at the police service will allow him to focus on training and he’ll consider his options in the future.
“This is still something I’m passionate about and I think I can make a difference but maybe under different circumstances.”
Now out of the race, Horvat declined to say if he’ll throw his support behind any of the other contenders, although he expressed in a previous interview that change was needed in the style of leadership shown by Mayor Kristal Chopp, who is running for a second term.
“I think I’ll leave that alone for now.”
A Port Dover resident, Horvat is a longtime police officer and leader in the area, rising to become the Norfolk OPP detachment commander before retiring and moving to the small Aylmer police service where he immediately faced highly publicized protests over pandemic protocols.
Along with Chopp, others running for Norfolk mayor are current councillors Amy Martin and Ian Rabbitts, realtor and former Town of Simcoe councillor Bill Culver and Simcoe businessman David Bate.
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