It’s been 20 years since Hilda MacDonald was first elected to Leamington council. She said that first year was quite intimidating and exciting at the same time.
“There was a lot to learn. Rob Schmidt and Herb Enns took me under their wing,” she told the Sun last week. “They were both very good mentors for me. I will always owe them a debt of gratitude.”
Now some 20 years later, she has been elected for her third term as mayor — alongside two new councillors in John Biekx and Chad Robinson.
“I’m looking forward to working with both of them,” she said. “I will also miss Larry (Verbeke) and Heather (Latam), who both contributed greatly to this community.”
Verbeke retired with this most recent election and councillor Paul Tiessen stepped up to run for — and win — the deputy mayor’s seat.
Leamington has a good mix of young, old, experienced and inexperienced council members and MacDonald welcomes it.
She pointed out that when she was first elected, council was comprised of mostly farmers. Now, Tiessen is the only farmer remaining on council and she’s glad that he is there to represent the rural areas.
“He’s consistent with common sense,” she said about Tiessen. “I know what I can expect from Paul, as a rule.”
For herself, the now three-term mayor says she’s ready to get back to work after a few weeks of concentrating mostly on a very vigorous and draining campaign.
She says that infrastructure is near the top of the list for projects for the upcoming four years and that leads to housing opportunities.
“So to me, the (Northeast Trunk) sewer project will be the crux of it all,” she says. “Because that opens up residential lands for up to 6,000 units.”
She adds that the next four years will be a challenge to deliver the same level of service while trying to keep tax increases to a minimum.
“Housing and affordability will be a key piece. I think we’re in for some tight years,” she said. “And we still have to recognize that some people are struggling financially. So I think it’s going to be still building on the progress we’ve made, but there might have to be some restraints.”
The uptown Erie North/Talbot West streetscape project should be well underway within that four-year term. The project was supposed be done during the last term, but the storeowners asked for a delay.
“It’s always in consultation with the store owners and they had asked us to hold off because some of them were still feeling the residual effect of the pandemic,” added MacDonald. “So we’re looking at 2028 or 2029.”
She says about $9 million has been put into uptown beautification so far, mostly through the creation of the parkettes and the Queens/John St. streetscapes.
Speaking to the collaboration involved in council decisions, MacDonald was quick to point out that she does not believe in the Strong Mayor Powers and has no intention to use them.
“I’m always consulting with my council members,” she says. “To me, that’s democracy and I like to know what they are thinking ahead of time. If I’m the only one voting a certain way, more than likely, I’m wrong. So I look forward to everyone bringing their points-of-view to the table.”
She added that she believes it will be a good, cohesive council where nobody is so entrenched in their point of view that they aren’t willing to compromise.
The new council will be sworn in on Tuesday, November 17.
