Atkinson is back
Sylvester Atkinson elected mayor of Middleton once again
Sylvester Atkinson is the newlyelected mayor of Middleton - again.
Atkinson bowed out of municipal politics more than a dozen years ago but says he now feels the need to leave retirement and work for the benefit of the Town of Middleton.
The four-time former Middleton mayor faced off against current deputy mayor Dan Smith in the polls, garnering 403 votes to Smith’s 232 votes.
When the polls closed at 7 p.m. Oct. 15, 644 residents had cast their votes, electing a new mayor and six town councillors. Incumbents Melinda den Haan, and Gail Smith will be returning to council chambers joined by newcomers Michael Fairn, Clayton MacMurtry, Gary Marshall and Brad Reid.
The close of the election meant the end of an era for retiring mayor Calvin Eddy, who held the top spot on council for 16 years.
When he’s sworn in as Eddy’s successor, Atkinson intends to get right to business. Just moments after the results were announced Atkinson shared his priorities as the new mayor.
“I feel the one thing that we really need to work on is getting back in co-operation with the province and the federal government in order to get joint funding on some of our major projects,” he said.
He added that during his time as mayor 16 years ago he felt that this was his strength.
“A small town like this there are some things that we can’t do, but with their help we can,” said Atkinson.
Atkinson added that he sees the community centre fire hall complex as a priority that he hopes to help move forward.
“We have to desperately look at that,” he said. “There have been studies that have shown that that is the top priority in terms of needs and so on and nothing has happened.”
Atkinson said he feels voters may have been weary of bringing him back as mayor. “They prob- ably had a wee bit of concern with my age because you know I was here 30 some years ago, so I’m no longer that young. I feel that I am in perfect health and I am retired from other jobs and so on, and now I feel I have a lot of time to devote to it.”
Atkinson hopes that this time around he can spur some engagement from the community.
“I (believe in) keeping involved with the community to keep in touch with the people and to invite them in and to discuss issues, and also to get involved with the business community to try to get things going.”
Atkinson was pleased with the results and the voter turnout, which was up from the 34 per cent four years ago to 52.2 per cent.