The Regent Theatre in Picton was buzzing as Prince Edward County council held their inaugural meeting of the 2022 to 2026 term.
A crowd of city employees, residents and family members of the council members elect filed into the Regent Theatre to see the new council and mayor take their declarations of office.
Several special guests were in attendance, including Lieutenant Governor of Ontario the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, who delivered a speech during the ceremony.
During her short speech, she remarked on the importance of municipal governments, and how recent events have shown how fragile democracy can be.
“Democracy is so much more than a vote. It’s really about how we choose to live our lives together, in community in provinces, in countries, and in fact in the world,” said Dowdeswell.
Her speech went on to mention how despite municipal governments being the closest to the people, they are often overshadowed by provincial and federal governments.
Later in the evening, after taking the Declaration of Office, Mayor Steve Ferguson had his own speech for the assembled crowd.
During his speech, Mayor Ferguson spoke about how he planned to set goals and priorities for the upcoming term.
“We also visited each ward in this municipality to see first kind of issues that will become our upcoming agenda,” said Ferguson. “Early in this term, we will identify and communicate our priorities with criteria for measuring our progress for years to come. Our deliberation will be informed by experience.”
Mayor Ferguson went on to talk about some initiatives already in motion.
“Many initiatives, new hospital build, physician recruitment, our affordable housing corporation’s focus on affordable and attainable housing, internet and transportation expansion, improve local education, opportunities and attracting external sources of funding. All those are well underway and will continue,” said Ferguson.
The newly elected council’s first regularly scheduled meeting is set for December 13.
