A new term of Quinte West city council kicked off on Monday night.
The city chambers were packed with onlookers, including local officials like 8 Wing/CFB Trenton Wing Commander Col. Leif Dahl and Quinte West Fire Chief John Whalen and officials from outside Quinte West including Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis.
The inauguration ceremony began with the procession of the mayor and council led by piper Sean Cleaton.
Egerton Boyce was unable to attend in person due to being diagnosed with COVID-19 but was at the ceremony via Zoom.
Following an introduction and greetings from several officials, council gave their oath to office.
Mayor Jim Harrison then gave his oath to office and was invested with his robe, chain of office and gavel by the City Clerk.
Mayor Jim Harrison being presented with the robe, chain of office and gavel at the inaugural meeting. December 5, 2022. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Harrison then gave his inaugural address, a congratulations to the councillors who won reelection and are heading into another term of office and the councillors who won their first election.
“It’s really exciting to have some new ideas and perspectives to add to our team. And I look forward to continuing our working relationship and collaborating with each and every one of you as we move forward, with dignity, respect and integrity,” Harrison said in his address.
“These are the foundations of teamwork that I encourage both counsel and staff to strive for as we work together to find the best solutions and deliver the best outcomes for residents during the next four years.”
Mayor Harrison then moved on to some of the biggest issues the city wants to tackle heading into the new term starting with addressing the doctor shortage in the area.
“Starting with the city’s recent purchase of the North Murray property, the city has engineers working to transform the building into a medical facility for doctors to open their practices and any other space we have there. We want to be able to attract healthcare workers to provide services,” said Mayor Harrison.
Mayor Jim Harrison delivering his inaugural address. December 5, 2022. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Infrastructure was also cited in Harrison’s speech. The mayor cited the bridge at the County Rd. 40 overpass and said rehabilitation work needs to be done.
“That bridge needs to be rebuilt and during the course of rebuilding it, council has acknowledged that it needs to be wider and we want to, in the future, widen County Road 40 to four lanes so that we will do the work on the bridge now and prepare it to be widened when necessary,” said the mayor.
The affordable housing crisis was also addressed in the speech with Harrison saying that strong relationships with provincial and federal leaders will be necessary in order to address the problem.
After quick remarks and more greetings from guests including a written letter from MP Ryan Williams and a video from MPP Todd Smith, the inaugural meeting was adjourned.
A new term of council brings with it new faces.
There are four new city councillors to Quinte West this term. They include Duncan Armstrong, Egerton Boyce, Zack Card and Shelley Stedall.
Two of the new Quinte West council members, Shelley Stedall and Zack Card. December 5, 2022. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Speaking with media after the ceremony, new councillor Shelley Stedall said it was “almost surreal” when the swearing in was happening.
“I have been striving for this for a long time and just to be sitting on that side of the fence, it’s a little bit overwhelming,” Stedall told media. “I know I’ve got the ground basis to do well.”
Fellow new councillor Zack Card is the youngest member on council.
He says he ran on a campaign of bringing a younger voice to council and hopes that will continue.
“For instance, with the housing, my wife and I both rented up until we were 34 years old, like a year ago, we were renting,” Card told media members.
“So it’s not just an academic exercise, we’re literally stuck in that situation where we couldn’t save up for the down payment, and it’s never enough, prices keep climbing. So I think that lived experience and being someone in the time period who is kind of dealing with that stuff, it’s important to have voices like like mine at the table.”
