Ahead of being sworn into his new position as the ninth Mayor of Kenora – Andrew Poirier says he’s taking a look at Kenora Council’s priorities for the next four years.
The former Manager of Operational Services for the Kenora Catholic District School Board, who has served three terms as a City Councillor in Kenora and won October 24’s election with 64 per cent of the community’s votes, says Council’s direction will include input from every member at the table.
“I had my own set of priorities I ran on in the campaign, but we’ve started to meet as a new Council and we are going to, over the next couple of weeks, look at all of what our priorities are and place them in a sequence of what we want to accomplish,” said Poirier, in an interview.
Poirier notes that council members came together last week for the first day of orientation, ahead of their swearing-in ceremonies on November 15 at City Hall.
“It’s seven people that will decide that. Not just myself,” he adds. “I’m just one vote at the table, with a few other functions as Mayor. I’m looking forward to that collaboration with the six other individuals at the table who are ready and raring to go.”
During the election campaign, Poirier ran on a platform of creating a safer downtown core by addressing drug use and homelessness, by working with community and First Nation partners and by gathering support to tackle the issues from the provincial and federal governments.
He also spoke about the need to create a business-friendly environment in Kenora, the need to increase housing supply and physician recruitment and said he would strive to operate an open and transparent governance model.
Councillor and former OPP member Bob Bernie’s platform also speaks about the need to increase community safety, while Councillor Lindsay Koch’s platform detailed the need to decrease policing costs and increase social supports.
Incumbent Councillor Graham Chaze’s campaign goals list downtown revitalization and economic development with better services for taxpayers, while Councillor Barb Manson promised to work with the community to find creative solutions to the community’s issues.
Lisa Moncrief’s campaign stressed the need for change in Kenora’s leadership and noted economic development and a review of policing costs are in order. Kelsie Van Belleghem stressed the need for financial diversification for the city, as well as proper representation for community members.