The Castletown Town Commissioners have elected a new chairperson.

Jamie Horton has replaced Carol Quine, who resigned from the local authority at the end of October after a row over a dog bite incident.

The incident occurred on August 26, and prompted the board to write to Ms Quine requesting her resignation.

Ms Quine, who was elected to chair the board following the local elections in July, refused to resign, which led to a vote of no confidence being passed against her in September.

She ultimately made the decision to step down on October 20.

In her letter of resignation Ms Quine alleged that the dog bite incidence occurred after an employee of CTC had ’volunteered to administer ear drops to the dog’.

At the time, the Castletown commissioners said: ’It is a matter of disappointment to the board that after several weeks of silence, Miss Quine has through her public press release chosen to make misleading comments about an employee of the town that the Commissioners refute in their entirety.’

At a board meeting held on Monday, Mr Horton was unanimously elected to serve as chairman for the remainder of the municipal year.

He has been on the board for five years, after joining following a by-election.

Meanwhile, Jerry Ludford-Brooks will continue in his role as vice-chairman.

Upon his election, Mr Horton said: ’I am both humbled and honoured to be chairman of Castletown Commissioners.

’I would ideally have liked it to be under different circumstances but nonetheless it is still a great honour.’

Mr Horton also addressed his predecessor directly upon his election.

He said: ’I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Ms Quine for all the hard work she put in both as chairman and a commissioner and I hope that we can now continue to move forward not only as a board but as a united team and together, we aspire to do great things for Castletown.’

He added: ’I would also like to give special recognition to Mr Ludford-Brooks for discharging official duties on behalf of Castletown whilst acting as chairman in recent weeks.’

Regarding the circumstances of Ms Quine’s resignation, Mr Horton said the issue is ongoing but it’s time to ’move forward’ after a bumpy start.

He said: ’I was very close to Ms Quine, and obviously it’s very disappointing the way everything’s turned out.’

The commissioners have previously stated that a decision regarding the timing of an election to fill the casual vacancy created by Ms Quine resignation will be announced in due course.

They said: ’[We] are mindful that an early election under the current legislation will disenfranchise any voters who cannot cast a vote in person.’