Terry Glover is officially in for a second term as mayor of Lake of Bays, joined by exactly the same councillors.
Glover received 58.5 per cent of the vote to Linda Thompson’s 41.5 per cent. He congratulates Thompson on a hard fought campaign, adding that while he kept his seat, he’s happy to see the wave of female representatives elected across the District of Muskoka.
In Lake of Bays, all council positions were acclaimed except the mayoral seat and district councillor for Franklin/Sinclair, which saw Mike Peppard re-elected. Robert Lacroix returns as District Councillor for Ridout/McLean.
Rick Brooks, Nancy Tapley, George Anderson, and Jacqueline Godard are back on township council, respectively representing Sinclair, Franklin, Ridout, and McLean wards.
Glover says many of his priorities for the next term were started during his last, but he hopes the election trail has spawned some new ideas for the new official plan.
“A lot of the projects are [already] ongoing, but maybe try to focus better, target better, maybe get some ideas from council I haven’t heard yet,” says Glover. “Possibly from their campaigning they’ve heard new things that we should discuss. I’m always open to that.”
Those projects include better broadband connectivity through the township and Muskoka at large, “creative solutions” for affordable housing, improving community engagement on the budget, and a program to bring together local artists as a tourism draw to the area.
Another major focus is modernizing Lake of Bays’ two community centres. In Dwight, they’ll upgrade the centre’s library and create a business hub, and Baysville’s centre will be renovated to house a venue space.
He adds that he also hopes to fight for more equal representation of the township at the District level.
“That certainly is a priority, no question about it. I made it one last time, but it’s going to have to have some work, and we’re going to have to work along with the towns to get that across,” says Glover. “Currently, voting isn’t set up that way, but I’m hoping for that. Equal representation with an equal vote.”
Glover also thanked the residents of Lake of Bays for putting their faith in him once again.
“Thank you so much for all your support. I’m looking forward to serving you and helping you,” says Glover. “I’m very humbled by the position, and really looking forward to getting a lot of these projects finished up that we’ve gotten started during COVID. Their support has been incredible, and I sure appreciate it.”