Editor's note: BarrieToday is running profile stories on candidates for city council in each of the city's 10 wards in the coming weeks. For more election coverage, visit our 2022 municipal election page by clicking here, where you can also find mayoral profiles and other election news.
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Ken Lloyd says he will lend Barrie residents an ear if elected Ward 10 councillor on Oct. 24.
“I’m actually a very good listener,” said Lloyd, 49, a Canada Post employee with an accounting background. “I consider myself completely neutral. I’m not partisan. I like listening to both sides.
“I would listen to both sides and then try to find common ground to move the community forward. It’s never back and white and I think I’d be pretty good at finding that particular common ground to move forward," he added.
Lloyd joins Joy Douglas, Bryn Hamilton and Steven Mirtsos as candidates in Ward 10.
The incumbent, Mike McCann, is running for mayor, along with Andrew Gordon, Rob Haverson, Gerry Marshall, Alex Nuttall, and Barry Ward.
Jeff Lehman, Barrie’s mayor for almost 12 years, has said he is not seeking re-election.
“I’ve always wanted to help the community,” Lloyd said of his motivation to seek office. “I wanted to run several years ago, but there were such strong candidates in this area, with Nuttall and Mr. McCann. Now that they’re out of the way (running for mayor), I think it’s time for someone else to step up and help out the community.”
Lloyd has already been helping the community, volunteering with minor soccer and baseball, at his kids’ school and has been heavily involved with coaching his children.
“Now with my kids getting older, I feel I’ve got a lot of time on my hands to help out in a greater capacity than I have in the past,” he told BarrieToday.
As for what his priorities would be if elected, Lloyd said there are few surprises.
“Obviously, being an accountant the fiscal aspect of things to me is important, that money is spent correctly,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of growth going on in Ward 10 right now, so having the infrastructure implemented correctly is always of great concern to everyone in this particular area.”
And Lloyd said communication with Barrie residents and other councillors can be better.
“Make sure the people around me know what’s going on and that things are being done correctly, infrastructure-wise,” he said. “The co-operation, more the willingness to work with others (on city council) would be one of the things I would like to have changed.”
Lloyd said he has no experience in politics and doesn’t consider the Ward 10 councillor’s chair a means to any end.
“I have no political agenda as far as a desire to move forward, other than just to help the community,” he said. “I know a lot of politicians get in there with other plans, with other desires, and they see this as a stepping stone so they kind of do their own thing.
“I’m not one of those guys.”
Nomination close Aug. 19 for the Oct. 24 city election, which elects the next Barrie mayor, 10 councillors and school board trustees.
For more information, visit barrie.ca.
