The Municipality of West Grey held an inaugural meeting following the recent municipal election.
During a meeting on Nov. 22, Mayor Kevin Eccles, Deputy Mayor Thomas Hutchinson, and councillors Scott Foerster, Doug Hutchinson, Doug Townsend, Geoffrey Shea, and Joyce Nuhn offered a few words following their declaration of oaths to office.
Eccles says he thanks the voters of West Grey for giving him the honour of filling the seat of mayor once again.
“I pledged to do everything possible to continue to make West Grey the number one choice where residents want to create a life for their family’s future and the future success of our community as a whole. I am excited to get to work with the 2022/26 council team to deliver on our pledge. Working as a team, we will not always be agreeable 100 per cent of the time, but once decisions have been made, teammates always work together to nurture successful delivery of those decisions,” says Eccles.
He adds the decisions they make will not always be popular, but the challenge they face moving forward is doing what is right for the betterment of West Grey.
Thomas followed by acknowledging the challenges faced over the past four years, including the Covid pandemic. He also thanked the residents of West Grey for supporting him in assuming the role of deputy mayor.
“I promise to work hard as I have in the past four years and will continue to support the enhancement to our wonderful municipality,” says Thomas. “I also look forward to working with Mayor Eccles and to my new colleagues on council. Each one of you brings a skill set to council that will help us move forward and make the difficult decisions that are ahead of us.”
Foerster also extended thanks those who supported him and encouraged residents to reach out to him.
“I am looking forward to working with the other members of council, the West Grey staff and moving our municipality forward. Please feel free to share your ideas on issues affecting West Grey and any possible budget savings,” says Foerster.
Shea thanked the voters who helped him assume the role of councillor for a third term and referenced the actions taken over the last four years, including the establishment of a climate action plan, making a stable commitment to asset management, and approving and encouraging several housing developments.
“Going forward we will have many challenging issues to face, some we know about and others will surprise us. I am looking forward to working with all the members of this new council to engage in constructive dialogue and decision making. I look forward to serve with volunteers in the community and on our citizen committees, and I am confident in our senior management team in the office, and the West Grey staff and all of our facilities, including our library and police service,” says Shea.
Nuhn says it is an honour and privilege to serve as councillor and looks forward to her first term.
“I strongly feel my experience in public service and the passion I have for people in my community will represent West Grey well. My goal is to be a voice to the collaborating team, representing West Grey with integrity and compassion to ensure strategic and efficient spending, community based interaction, and a safe community that has all the services and infrastructure in place to provide an enjoyable community to live,” says Nuhn.
Townsend says he is excited for this next term of council as each councillor brings something different to the table.
“The best thing I like personally about this group is that I have known, been a neighbour of, or have worked on a committee or board with each of them over the years, so I can see this group coming together as a team quickly, which will allow us to get down to work and get some projects back on track,” says Townsend.
Doug rounded out the inauguration adding he is looking forward to the next four years, which he foresees a number of projects starting, and others being completed.
“Over this next term there will be numerous items on our plate. Number one priority will be to move forward with our policing situation. we have a consultant’s report, which will give us some information about our police service versus OPP. We need to look at this data, with my feeling is the majority of West Grey residents want to keep our local police service. West Grey is growing and we have pressures from within our settlement areas to keep building housing,” says Doug. “I also look forward to working with our county partners to see the new Rockwood Terrace build completed.”
