J. Murray Jones making a comeback as county warden
Douro-Dummer Township Mayor-elect J. Murray Jones is about to return to his role as warden of Peterborough County.
Jones was acclaimed, according to a new county staff report, because no one else on county council filed nomination papers to run for county warden.
He’s expected to be sworn in at a county council meeting on Dec. 12 and to serve as warden for two years until Dec. 9, 2020.
“I’m delighted about it — I really am,” Jones said in an interview Monday. “It’s what I do.”
Jones was warden for seven years before he was defeated for the warden’s job in December 2016 by Joe Taylor, the reeve of Otonabee-South Monaghan Township.
Jones had been the county’s longest-serving warden, before Taylor took over.
Taylor became the township’s new reeve in the municipal election on Oct. 22, succeeding longtime reeve Dave Nelson, but he announced last week he wouldn’t run for warden again this year.
Meanwhile Jones was acclaimed as mayor of Douro-Dummer Township in the municipal election, making him eligible to
run for warden.
County council works like this: The mayor (or reeve) and deputy mayor (or deputy reeve) of each of the eight townships in the county sits on county council for four years.
The warden position is elected by the rest of council every two years — as long as more than one councillor comes forward to run for the job.
This time the nomination period opened Oct. 30 and closed on Nov. 15; the county staff report says only Jones filed his papers.
Jones had some major health issues within a year of losing the warden job, in 2016: he had surgery and missed a few county council meetings in the fall of 2017.
“But I’ve bounced back,” Jones said Monday. “I’m looking forward to the next two years and really appreciative of the support I’ve received from council.”
The swearing-in of Jones as warden and of the new council takes place on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. in council chambers in the County Court House.