The campaigns are over, residents of the Municipality of Meaford have cast their ballots, and we now know the seven members that will form our municipal council for the next four years.
Current Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney will become Meaford’s next mayor, securing 2,627 votes, 285 more than her competitor, political newcomer Justin Perks, who received 2,342 votes.
Joining Keaveney at the council table for the next term will be Rob Uhrig, acclaimed as Deputy Mayor due to a lack of a challenger, and the five regular councillors for the next term will be Tony Bell, Darcy Chapman, Brandon Forder, Amanda Greenfield, and Adam Vaughan.
Meaford’s voters have elected a council with a nice mix of experience along with some fresh faces, as three of those elected (Greenfield, Chapman, and Vaughan) were first time candidates.
For this election, voters in this municipality had just 12 candidates to consider; three for mayor that became just two candidates after mayoral candidate Caryn Colman announced her withdrawal from the race on the day that the 11-day voting period began, along with nine candidates from which to choose for the five regular council seats.
With 5,201 ballots cast, 44.9 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in this election, a significant increase over the last municipal election in 2022 when just 36.77 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. The Municipality of Meaford saw a higher voter turnout than some of our neighbours. As I was gathering information on election night, I noted that Owen Sound reported a voter turnout of 38.9 percent, Grey Highlands saw a 35.5 percent voter turnout, while Georgian Bluffs saw just 31.71 percent of eligible voters cast ballots; though in Georgian Bluffs, voters were only electing regular council members as both the mayor and deputy mayor positions had been acclaimed. It was the highest voter turnout in Meaford since the 2014 municipal election, which saw a 50 percent turnout.
The topics of concern to voters covered a wide range in this election, from concern about rising water bills, to infrastructure needs, to managing the growth of this municipality, and of course the contentious pumped storage proposal that has been a hot topic in this community for the past several years.
Without the advantage of professional polling, it is difficult to gauge the position of Meaford residents as far as the pumped storage proposal is concerned. Mayor-elect Keaveney is seen by many opponents of the proposal as being a supporter of the project, but that didn’t prevent her from winning the mayor’s race. Perhaps opposition to the proposed hydro-electric pumped storage facility isn’t as strong as the loudest voices suggest, but again, without any professional polling, or a municipal referendum, it is almost impossible to know just where residents of this municipality stand on the issue.
Pumped storage aside, once our new council is sworn in on November 16, they will have a busy four years ahead of them, and for the three new members of council there will be a significant amount to learn in the coming weeks and months.
One of the first challenges that will face our new council will be to establish a municipal budget for 2027. With the ‘strong mayor’ powers thrust upon hundreds of municipalities by the provincial government including here in Meaford, the preparation of the budget will largely fall on the mayor, but it will be the whole of council that will debate budget items, and who will vote to approve the 2027 municipal budget.
Residents of this municipality, just like many across the province, have seen their wallets stretched in recent years with the cost of virtually everything increasing from groceries to housing to fuel and everything in between, so there will be significant pressure on our new council to keep any potential rate increase as low as possible.
While there will be pressure on the newly elected council to prepare a budget for next year with as low an increase as possible, I have also seen and heard many in this community calling for increased municipal services and facilities. In particular I have heard many express a desire for Meaford to build a new recreation centre with an indoor swimming pool and other amenities. With significant infrastructure funding needs, and a wastewater treatment plant that will at some point require an expansion that will cost tens of millions of dollars, finding funding for a new recreation centre would prove a challenge indeed. But such is the nature of the job of councillor: there is much to consider with each important decision.
The successful candidates in this year’s municipal election will have some time to celebrate their victories before they get to work, but once they do get to work, there will be many challenges to come.
I congratulate all of the candidates who put their names forward for consideration in this year’s municipal election. As I have written previously, the number of candidates has dropped with each election since 2014 when we had a total of 20 candidates from which to choose. In 2018 Meaford voters had 16 candidates to consider, while in 2022 there were just 15 candidates, and this year a total of 13 including one acclamation, so in reality voters had just a dozen candidates from which to choose this year.
All of the candidates should be applauded for putting their names forward, and of course the seven successful candidates who will form our next council are also deserving of a tip of the cap for a job well done. But the real work begins next month, after this new council is sworn in, as we will have a busy four years ahead, and there will be no shortage of issues with which council will grapple.
