What's old is new again in the township of Southgate.
Brian Milne has won the mayorship. He was mayor of the same municipality from 2010 until 2014 before being defeated. Four years later, he ran for deputy mayor and was victorious, and said he decided to run again in 2022 after current Mayor John Woodbury announced that he was retiring from politics.
Milne said he's proud to serve a second term as mayor, but admits that the municipality is much different now compared to the last time he occupied the mayor's seat.
"I would've called you crazy if you told me ten years ago about the growth this area is experiencing right now," said Milne, who noted the COVID-19 pandemic was a "super-charger" for that growth. He added residents in the Greater Toronto Area and from Kitchener-Waterloo began moving to places like Dundalk, altering the landscape significantly.
"We have a developer in Dundalk that is building in the order of approximately 200 homes per year, and he's just going flat-out" he added.
Milne won the election with just short of 52% of the vote, and just 64 votes more than his opponent, current Southgate Councillor Michael Sherson.
The incoming mayor said that catering to this growth will be essential for the next four years, but feels the newly-elected council is full of good people that have citizens' best interests in mind.
"Change is coming, but I'm not afraid of it. I'm embracing," Milne said, adding "I think Southgate will do well, certainly in the next four years, but also the next 10-20 years. We are in a good place to get things done for our residents."