No round pegs in square holes for Barrie’s next city council, says mayor-elect Alex Nuttall.
“I’m a big believer that you empower people to do work where they want to, because that’s where you’re going to get the most out of them, where they’re going to have the greatest benefit to the city of Barrie,” he said. “I really do look forward to having those conversations with these individuals so that we can figure out where those areas are and get everybody up and running.”
Nuttall, who was elected Monday night, will head a council that hopefully mixes experience with enthusiasm.
Returning are Clare Riepma in Ward 1, Ann-Marie Kungl in Ward 3, Robert Thomson in Ward 5, Gary Harvey in Ward 7, Jim Harris in Ward 8, and Sergio Morales in Ward 9. The newcomers are Craig Nixon in Ward 2, Amy Courser in Ward 4, Nigussie Nigussie in Ward 6, and Bryn Hamilton in Ward 10.
“There’s a breadth of experience there. I look at some of the backgrounds,” Nuttall said of the new council. “I think there’s a lot in terms of the value at the table and I know we’re going to work together for the good of the people of Barrie and that atmosphere we will be able to achieve great results.”
Gone are Ward 4 Coun. Barry Ward, who was also the deputy mayor this past term, and Ward 10 Coun. Mike McCann. Both Ward and McCann ran for mayor, finishing second and fourth respectively. Ward 2 Coun. Keenan Aylwin and Ward 6 Coun. Natalie Harris did not seek re-election after one term on council.
Barrie’s next mayor said that while he didn’t receive 100 per cent of the votes Monday, he will work hard to represent 100 per cent of city residents.
But while Barrie has approximately 103,000 eligible voters, only 30.45 per cent cast a ballot under the city’s new voting process, which was largely online and by phone, with a little in-person voting.
There were 92,156 eligible voters in Barrie four years ago and voter turnout was 29.65 per cent.
The difference is there was a legitimate race for mayor this year, with Nuttall beating Ward by 777 votes.
In 2018, Jeff Lehman took 90.97 per cent of the votes for mayor, or 24,854, with Ram Faerber taking 9.03 per cent or 2,467 votes.
Yet, voter turnout was roughly the same in each election.
“I think that we have to make sure that we ask the residents of Barrie how they like the current voting system,” Nuttall said. “I think we should be striving every day to make sure we can increase the number of people that are participating in the democratic process at the municipal level, and that’s a conversation council needs to have with staff and certainly professionals in this field and figure out what works.”
Nuttall previously served as Ward 10 councillor from 2006 to 2014, and was Barrie-Springwater-Oro-
When Ward announced he was running for mayor, he mentioned continuing the good things started under Lehman and his willingness to continue them — such as task-force recommendations on housing affordability, the downtown market and the performing arts centre.
“They’re all part of Mayor Lehman’s legacy,” Ward said at the time.
Nuttall, 37, says he was of the same mind.
“I think that Jeff had done an incredible job for the city of Barrie,” he said. “Where I sit, I want to continue to work through that legacy that Jeff left and, quite frankly, all of the councils left. Some incredible members of council for the past number of years, they’ve worked well together and I hope that I can bring the same approach that Jeff had in terms of making sure that everyone’s included and insuring that we can move the city of Barrie forward.
“Different folk want to hone in in different areas around the city, both geographically and in their wards, but also you know some of the things they see as the most important issues and priorities," Nuttall added.
The mayor-elect said there should be few surprises what directions Barrie is headed.
His platform included freezing property taxes, fixing city roads, jobs for Barrie, housing people can afford, a downtown to be proud of and a city people feel safe in were its planks.
“I think that we’ve been explaining, communicating where we want the city to go over the next number of years over the last few months,” Nuttall said. “However, this isn’t a one-man show. This is a team approach to governing and that’s what we’re going to have around the council table.
“So I can’t wait to meet with all the individuals, individually as well as a team, to set out our priorities and ensure over the next few years that we’re obviously achieving those priorities and goals that we set out.”
Morales spoke of getting things done in the next term of council, just after he was re-elected in Ward 9.
“People don’t care about our differences; they care about our results and that needs to be our focus for the next four years,” he said.
