New Minto Mayor Dave Turton was acclaimed prior to the elections this year, and he says he's ready for the challenge after serving as Deputy Mayor for a number of years.
Turton says there are plenty of issues to plan for in the upcoming term.
"Growing communities, development, subdivisions, you know, trying to create attainable and affordable housing, and making sure we have enough adequate water and wastewater capacity for all the new developments. Keeping our broad range of services, our recreational culture, that's what people expect and I think that's how we're attracting new people to our town," Turton says.
Finances and managing budgets will also be an ongoing challenge going forward, as Turton says the pandemic fallout and rising inflation will cause challenges at the local level.
"We have to stabilize our funding with the feds, the province and the county, and that's our roads, bridges, sidewalks, all that stuff is continually needing to be nurtured. Our frontline workers and hospitals, and we're not unique, Minto is not unique, everybody is having the same issues," adds Turton.
After many years served as Deputy Mayor, Turton now replaces longtime Mayor, George Bridge, who announced this year he was retiring. Turton says Bridge's leadership was greatly admired and appreciated.
"We're doing this now without our 12 year Mayor, and I mean he worked very hard during those 12 years and it's certainly gonna be hard shoes to fill. He did a great job leading us all through COVID. That was very trying, virtual meetings and all that. But now we've generated, and I know many municipalities have generated, a hybrid situation, so say you wanna go on a trip or say you're sick and you can get on the council meetings and attend the meetings virtually, and I think that's a good thing," Turton notes.
In terms of current projects started this year, Turton says the street reconstruction and project on the street in front of the Palmerston Hospital continues.
"The street torn up in front of the hospital, which is creating havoc, but it was a very important capital project that we had to do this year and it's gonna linger into next year. But 2023 will likely be a planning year for us," says Turton.
He says that's due to many recent infrastructure projects being completed and the municipality borrowing some money to complete those. Turton adds that there will likely be more focus on completing the Strategic and Recreation plans in Minto next year.
