Meaford’s new Mayor Ross Kentner is looking ahead to the new year and what’s in store for the municipality.
Looking back over the past year, Kentner says it is exciting to see the shovels in the ground and projects opening.
One of these projects include the opening of peopleCare’s 128-bed Long-Term Care Home, situated on the former site of the Meaford Community School at 186 Cook Street. 58 residents were relocated from the old home on William Street to the new facility on Dec. 15.
Additionally, he adds there are houses, roads and services in subdivisions under construction in the municipality.
“We have more houses coming from Sinclaire Homes that will be built on the south side of Highway 26 at the western entrance to Meaford,” says Kentner.
He says he is also pleased by the recent resolution by the Ontario Land Tribunal in regards to the Skydev proposal.
“I feel that we had the best resolution of that situation that we could possibly achieve by negotiating with the developer and there have been concessions made on both sides, but I feel that a start at waterfront development is going to play a big role in Meaford’s scope over the next term,” says Kentner.
Over the past year, however, Kentner says the municipality has run into its own challenges.
“You can never refurbish things like bridges and roads and underground infrastructure as fast as you would like and you can never do it as fast as you can afford. One of the disappointments was that Gillies Bridge, which we were working on all summer, some of the work just could not be done in cold weather and so that bridge remains closed over the winter. That has been very disappointing to us and I’m sure a terrible headache and concern for the farmers who generate a lot of our wealth in the Municipality of Meaford over these roads and bridges,” says Kentner.
Looking forward into the new year, Kentner says when it comes around to budget time, they will be looking at addressing issues with infrastructure and inflation.
Kentner says he does look forward to continuing to work with his new council, both returning a new members.
“I think we are all very like-minded and we are all going to be working very hard in the coming term to try and bring positive change to our municipality,” says Kentner.
