Puslinch Mayor Dennis Lever is running unopposed for the Wellington County warden’s chair.
Current Warden George Bridge, mayor of Minto, will not be seeking a second two-year term. Instead, Bridge announced at the Nov. 24 council meeting he would be interested in chairing the county’s economic development committee, a post he held prior to becoming warden in December of 2014.
“It’s a great organization and I can’t say enough about it,” said Bridge of the county staff and his fellow councillors. “I’ve had two great years and part of that two great years is this council. This council’s been very good to work with … we’ve had issues that we’ve had to deal with and we’ve had situations where we didn’t all agree, but at the end of the day we came together and I think that’s what’s important.”
The new warden and committee chairs will be selected by county councillors at a special meeting on Dec. 9. Lever was the only councillor to announce his intention to seek the top job.
“I think we have some significant challenges ahead I want to see us continue to move the county forward,” said Lever, who cited economic development as a key area of focus.
“Economic development to me is a competitive field. We see what’s going on with the Western Wardens Caucus but at the same time, even though this is going to be an umbrella group that’s going to do something for a very large area, we’re going to end up a in situation where we’re competing with other municipalities for economic development and we have to make sure we win in those cases. It’s key to our future. We can’t keep relying on residential taxpayers or the industrial/commercial base, we need to see an expansion in that area.”
While the warden’s post seems likely to be filled by acclamation, there will be contests for three committee chair positions.
Incumbent chair Don McKay, councillor for Ward 7, and Ward 2 councillor Gregg Davidson both announced their interest in chairing the county’s solid waste services committee.
Inucmbent Ward 3 councillor Gary Williamson will face a challenge from Mapleton Mayor Neil Driscoll for the roads committee chair post.
Ward 6 councillor Shawn Watters and Town of Erin Mayor Allan Alls are both seeking to chair the planning and land division committee. Wellington North Mayor Andy Lennox, the current planning chair indicated he woudl "take a step back," and not seek a committee chair position.
