Hub Staff
Following his run for a seat at Queen’s Park, Southampton Ward Councillor Don Matheson is vying for the role of Deputy Mayor in Saugeen Shores. In a June 11 interview Matheson said that running as the Liberal Huron-Bruce candidate in the provincial election taught him a lot. “I just know that the next progression of whatever I'm going to do, I want a bigger role. The bigger role would be a step up into the second-in-command to Council and Deputy Mayor seemed like the best shot,” said Matheson.
Matheson said beyond talking openness and transparency, the biggest thing he has learned in the past four years is that there is a plan coming. “We want to grow so much and I have, in my mind, formulated a plan of growth,” he said. The teacher, coach and former GM of the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks spoke recreational-wise citing a new pool, ball diamonds, a sports complex and bike trials as his items of focus. “We’ve got to make sure we maintain our growth in a proper way that our taxes don’t get out of control. We do have a lot of people that can afford it, but for every one that can there’s one that can’t. So we’ve got to make sure our tax base stays relatively the same.”
Matheson said that touring around other municipalities in Huron-Bruce has given him the opportunity to realize that Saugeen Shores Council “does a fantastic job of programming and looking at the future.”
“We look at our Reserves and we plan ahead, a lot of towns don’t do that and their tax rates are a lot higher than ours,” he said.
Matheson added that Saugeen Shores has “fantastic” people that have forecasted the needs of the municipality. “We plan it and we put it in Reserves so it’s not a big burden on tax payers,” he said.
Current Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau announced in May that he will be running for the mayor’s seat. On June 11, current Vice Deputy Mayor Diane Huber put in her papers to also run for the Deputy Mayor’s position.
