Time is running out for aspiring candidates in this year's municipal election.
Incumbent officeholders, and those seeking their jobs, have kicked off their candidacies in all of Windsor-Essex's municipalities. Applicants have until 2pm Friday to file their papers.
BlackburnNewsWindsor.com has been tracking the candidates since nominations opened in May.
Windsor
Incumbent mayor Drew Dilkens has yet to announce his intentions for this election, but four people have already expressed interest in the mayor's chair at the new City Hall. Businessmen Tom Hensel and Matt Marchand are in the running, as is perennial candidate Ernie (The Baconman) Lamont and retired farmer Frank Dyck.
On city council, seven out of the ten incumbents have decided to run again. The most recent to file is Ward 9 councillor Hilary Payne, who announced on Friday that he intends to run for a third term on council.
Ward 3 incumbent Rino Bortolin and Ward 7's Irek Kusmierczyk have yet to announce their plans. The tenth incumbent, Ward 8's Bill Marra, has already announced he will retire from municipal politics.
Fred Francis, Ward 1 councillor, is currently running unopposed. Fabio Costante, community activist and Catholic school board trustee, is challenging John Elliott in Ward 2.
Patricia "Patsy" Copus, described as a cannabis advocate and a blogger, has expressed interest in the Ward 3 seat. Current Ward 4 councillor Chris Holt is unopposed as of Saturday evening.
Three candidates are running against Ward 5's Ed Sleiman. Joey Wright previously ran for the seat in 2014. Also running are Lillian Kruszely and small business owner Adam Castle.
In Ward 6, Josh Jacquot has declared his intentions to run against incumbent Jo-Anne Gignac, as have Jeff Denomme and Terry Yaldo.
Angelo Marignani, who lost four years ago to Kusmierczyk in Ward 7, has filed for another shot at the seat. Albert Saba is the other declared contestant in that district.
Six people have filed to fill the open Ward 8 seat. They are Gemma Grey-Hall, Patti Hayes, Gary Kaschak, Greg Lemay, Kathryn MacDonell and Lisa Valente.
Running against Payne in Ward 9 are Xavier Gonzalez, Alex Aggerwal and Kieran McKenzie, longtime aide to Windsor West MP Brian Masse.
In Ward 10, incumbent Paul Borrelli also filed his forms on Friday. He is being challenged by Mohamed Chams and retired bank executive Jim Morrison.
Amherstburg
Mayor Aldo DiCarlo has already declared for a second four-year term, and he is currently running unopposed.
In the race for deputy mayor, current councillor Leo Meloche is looking for a promotion. Also running is Bob Rozankovic, the chairman of the Amherstburg Police Services Board. Current Deputy Mayor Bart DiPasquale has not announced whether he will run.
The four remaining at-large councillors have yet to file papers. Four challengers have. They are Marc Renaud, Gregory Moore, Ron Sutherland and Lori Wightman.
Essex
Three people have filed as potential successors to current mayor Ron McDermott, who has hinted that he will not run again but has not confirmed his intentions. Current Ward 3 co-councillor Larry Snively is running, along with Rob Shepley and Katie McGuire-Blais.
Richard Meloche is running again for deputy mayor, who will be voted on at-large in this election. So far, he's running unopposed.
Ward 1 co-councillor Randy Voakes is running again. Morley Bowman, Tom Holland, Phil Pocock and Fred Groves have declared to run in Ward 1.
There are two declared contestants for the Ward 2 position -- Kim Verbeek and Mark Williams.
Voakes' Ward 1 colleague Steve Bjorkman is also running, but for one of the two seats in Ward 3. Ron Rogers, who was elected in Ward 3 in a by-election, has not decided whether to run for a full term. Retired journalist Chris Vander Doelen has filed to run in that ward.
Sherry Bondy, the Ward 4 incumbent, is running for another term. She is being challenged by Paul Innes.
Kingsville
Current Mayor Nelson Santos is running for another term, as is current deputy mayor Gord Queen. Both are currently unopposed.
For council at-large, three of the incumbents have turned in their papers, Tony Gaffan, Tom Neufeld and Larry Patterson. Suzanne Coghill has not made her decision yet, nor has John Dreidger, who joined council last year following a by-election.
The field of challengers for council is getting crowded. Kevin Black, Kim Gilliland, Corey Gosselin, Jackie Kerr, John Lein, Laura Lucier, Barry Wilson and Kim DeYong have so far declared to run.
Lakeshore
Mayor Tom Bain is currently running for another term unopposed.
Incumbent Al Fazio has announced he will seek re-election as deputy mayor. He will be challenged by Ward 4 Councillor Tracey Bailey and challenger Sean Gabriele.
Town councillors Steven Wilder and Linda MacKinlay are running unopposed for re-election in Wards 1 and 6 respectively.
In Ward 2, incumbent Len Janisse is being challenged by Lana Drouillard. Kelsey Santarossa has filed to run for the Ward 3 seat currently held by Dave Monk, who has yet to declare.
Four candidates have announced for the vacant Ward 4, Romeo Beaulieu, Paddy Byrne, Susan Dozois and Jennifer-Jane Poisson.
In Ward 5, Dan Diemer has not yet announced for re-election. Two candidates have entered for that seat, Tim McDermitt and Wayne Rose.
LaSalle
Deputy Mayor Marc Bondy is so far the only candidate vying to succeed Mayor Ken Antaya, who is retiring. Councillor Crystal Meloche is so far the only candidate running to succeed Bondy as deputy mayor.
Three of the current at-large councillors, Mike Akpata, Sue Desjarlais and Jeff Renaud, will run again in October. A fourth, Terry Burns, has not declared.
Three additional people are seeking a seat on council, Adrien Bezaire, Mark Carrick and Sam Sleiman.
Leamington
All current members of the municipality's council have filed to run, but in various capacities.
Mayor John Paterson will have a challenge by current deputy mayor Hilda MacDonald. With MacDonald's job opening up, current councillor Larry Verbeke has filed to occupy it.
The remaining at-large councillors are Bill Dunn, John Hammond, John Jacobs and Tom Wilkinson. There are four challengers for council, Derek Freissen, Heather Latam, Brian Scott and Paul Tiessen.
Tecumseh
All current office holders have sent in their papers to run again, beginning with mayor Gary McNamara, who is currently running unopposed.
Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti is being challenged for his office by Leo DeMarce.
Councillors Andrew Dowie, Bill Altenhof, Rita Ossington, Brian Houston and Tania Jobin will run again. There is one challenger so far. Dwayne Ellis is running for the Ward 3 seat currently held by Ossington.
Previously, the town had four wards with Ward 1 represented by Ossington and Dowie. This ward has been split for this election.
The election is October 22.