There's officially a race for mayor in the Town of Plympton-Wyoming as papers have been filed for two mayoral candidates.
Muriel Wright filed her nomination papers at the beginning of May while Gary L. Atkinson filed his papers at the end of May.
Both candidates have backgrounds on council as Wright is currently the deputy mayor and Atkinson is a current councillor.
Plympton-Wyoming Councillor Gary Atkinson. (Photo courtesy of Gary Atkinson)
"I spent 33 years at Shell Canada and after that, I've had various positions in the municipal, provincial, and federal levels. My last major position was director with the Federal Bridge Corporation," said Atkinson.
He said on a local level, he was involved with the Plympton-Wyoming Agricultural Society and sits as the vice chair of the Lambton Agricultural Hall of Fame.
If elected as mayor, Atkinson said he has many goals in mind.
“With our wastewater master plan currently under review, we have to be prepared for the cost to improve and upgrade,” said Atkinson. “With the expansion, we are experiencing, we need to consider the infrastructure improvements needed in our rural areas and at the same time, improve our investments in our rural roads.”
Sarnia News Today reached out to Wright but did not receive a statement before publication. However, a media release was issued on June 9.
Wright said if elected as mayor, her top priorities would include monitoring upgrades to water and sewage systems, advocating for parks, and providing affordable services to residents.
Plympton-Wyoming Deputy Mayor Muriel Wright. (Photo courtesy of the Town of Plympton-Wyoming's municipal site)
“As your Mayor, my number one goal will be closely monitoring the upgrades to our water and sewage treatment plants- the two most important projects this term. With the rate of our growth, this has to be number one,” said Wright in a statement.
The current deputy mayor has served on Plympton-Wyoming Council for over 20 years.
“When I was first elected 24 years ago, I championed the growth of our parks," she said. "Since then, we went from a parks budget of $50,000 to now $600,000, and that's because now we have three new, large parks! As your Mayor I will continue to advocate for our parks, as we have seen so much growth and have a higher demand for them."
The municipal election will be on October 24.
-With files from Melanie Irwin
