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Orangeville elects new mayor, deputy mayor and pair of councillors

October 27, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Orangeville voters had their say on Monday (Oct. 24) for the 2022 municipal election and a new term of council has been decided, with a very similar composition to the 2018-2022 term.

While there’s been a reshuffling of positions, five out of seven councillors who served the past four years have been returned to the council table.

Orangeville’s new mayor Lisa Post served as councillor during the last term of council and earned 2,984 of 5,955 votes cast, followed by Jeffrey Patterson with 1,804 votes, Jeremy Williams with 839 and Kim Reid with 277.

Also moving up from their councillor seat is Todd Taylor who earned 4,727 votes, while his opponent Trevor Castiglione received 1,023, for the deputy mayor position. 

Switching places with Taylor is former deputy mayor Andy Macintosh, who took a step back and ran for councillor, which he was elected to with 3,410 votes.

Councillors who were re-elected include Debbie Sherwood with 3,850 votes and Joe Andrews with 3,481.

Two new faces to Orangeville Town Council are Tess Prendergast, recipient of 2,968 votes and Rick Stevens, who slid in with 2,330.

In an interview with the Citizen, shortly after the municipal election results were released, Post said, “I’m so honoured that the community would put their faith in me and their trust in me… I just want to thank the voters of Orangeville… I won’t let them down.”

After the new council’s sworn in during their first meeting on Nov. 21 and going forward over the next four years, Mayor Post said she’s going to be focused on affordability and continuing to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the town.

“That work is important to me,” she noted. “I think we need to continue to make sure that every resident of Orangeville can feel safe, included, accepted, and can access all the services in Orangeville equitably.”

Post said being community-minded, active in the community, and accessible to the electorate is what led to her success. 

“I think the community recognizes me, they see me at events, they see that I’m walking everything that I’m talking at the council level,” she remarked.

Deputy Mayor Taylor, who campaigned alongside Mayor Post and won with 83 per cent of the vote, said he is humbled and honoured to be serving in his new role.

He noted that they both will have a seat at the County of Dufferin Council table and be able to represent the town’s interests together. 

“I think Orangeville is going to like that they are going to see a united front, and it’s important that Orangeville is represented at the county by two people that are on the same page,” said the new deputy mayor. “I think that’s going to really bode well for us.”

Having a passion for municipal politics and enjoying working for the community, Taylor said he and Mayor Post are looking forward to the next four years.

“When you see two people enjoying what they do, well, it’s not going to be a grind,” he told the Citizen. “It’s going to be fun, and when you’re having fun, and you enjoy what you do, good things happen.”

Both Taylor and Post said they’re looking forward to working again with their former councilmates: Andrews, Macintosh and Sherwood, as well as the two new faces, Prendergast and Stevens.

Coun. Andrews echoed Post and Taylor’s sentiment and added that he’s both excited and relieved regarding his re-election.

“We had nine other incredible candidates running for councillor, and I couldn’t end up taking anything for granted,” he said. “This campaign was really tough; I have to admit. I ended up speaking to about 75 per cent of the population… I want to thank everyone who trusted me with their vote.”

A priority for Coun. Andrews under the new term of council is pushing for public engagement regarding how the $32 million windfall from the town’s railway land sale will be utilized. 

Another item is assisting in the town’s business and economic development portfolio, creating more opportunities for local employment and investment. 

A smaller but important project that Coun. Andrews said was put on pause due to the pandemic is the Soap Box Derby. The event will see children in Orangeville assembling gravity-powered race cars that they compete with.

Sherwood said she plans to continue with what she ran on during her last campaign – fiscal responsibility. 

“We were very privileged in the last four years to keep taxes way under inflation, and I’m really going to strive to continue with that,” she told the Citizen.

Other areas of focus for Sherwood are ensuring new developments complement the neighbourhoods they reside in and consulting the public on how to use the funds from the railway lands sale.

“I really am looking forward to engaging with the community to find out what they’d like to do with that,” she said.

Meanwhile, Macintosh said he feels the past council, which he sat on as deputy mayor, was successful and the group that’s been elected for 2022-2026 is going to keep that success going.

“I think we did a great job the first term and I think we’ll do an even better job this term,” he remarked.

Macintosh told the Citizen his primary focus is going to be continuing to keep property tax increases low.

“Last year it was 0.83 per cent. You can’t get much lower than that without cutting services and I want to keep this going,” he said.

New to the role as councillor but not to politics, having run for the NDP in the 2022 provincial election, Tess Prendergast said she’s looking forward to what the new council can accomplish.

“I think this is the dream team,” she told the Citizen. “I always thought that the previous council was very strong and I just thought I would be a welcome addition.”

She noted her excitement to work with fellow new councillor Stevens and the rest of the incumbents.

Prendergast told the Citizen her focus is going to be looking at zoning and all decision-making through an environmental lens, advocating for equitable access to municipal facilities/services relating to parks and recreation.

Fellow newcomer to council, Stevens, said he’s looking forward to getting his “feet wet” and working for the residents of Orangeville.

He told the Citizen, like many of his fellow councillors, he’s looking forward to consulting with the public on the best use of the railway land sale windfall, determining how to get the best value for that money, and improving upon parks and recreation.

Historically low voter turnout

Similar to many other jurisdictions across Ontario, Orangeville saw just 26.93 per cent or 5.955 out of 22,111 eligible voters cast a ballot in the municipal election, a roughly 13 per cent drop from voter turnout last year at 38.87 per cent.

While municipal elections are known to typically have lower voter turnouts than provincial and federal elections, having 73.07 per cent of local residents not casting a ballot is unprecedented. 

Mayor Post said the numbers locally and across the province are disappointing to see.

“Those of us who have been fortunate enough to win seats and have an opportunity to serve our community have a responsibility now – we need to do better to engage the public and try to change their apathy toward voting into desire to participate,” she told the Citizen. “I don’t know what that will take, but I think it starts with us around the council table.”

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