Watts puts name forward for Wainfleet mayor
Andrew Watts says there’s very little he’d like to change about Wainfleet and sees its future as a haven where agriculture and a rural lifestyle remain the priority.
Watts is one of four people running for the mayor’s position in the municipal elections this fall. Also running are Richard Dykstra, Kevin Gibson and Alfred Kiers.
Watts wants the job because he feels residents’ and voters’ interests are not being properly represented by council.
Asked what Wainfleet needs to grow, Watts said, “A belief that its residents do have a right to choose their own future.”
Speaking about growth, he said as mayor he’d work to prevent any further inappropriate overdevelopment along the Lake Erie shoreline and elsewhere within the township.
Watts, a professional mariner for more than 60 years, moved to Wainfleet 18 years ago after retiring there from the Caribbean island of Saba in the Netherland Antilles. He lived on the tiny island after working in the Middle East, where he met his wife.
“The choice of Wainfleet no more than a stroke of luck … each time I sit on my deck, or walk my dogs, I never cease to wonder just what I have ever done to deserve to now live my life where I do. Why would anyone not want to preserve such a life and a community against the ravages of unplanned and unwanted urban sprawl and haphazard over development?” said Watts, who works as a pilot boat captain.
He said his more than 50 years of experience of problem-solving in hands-on, practical and professional management positions will help him lead Wainfleet.
He added that studying municipal politics in Wainfleet and what he called the many wrong decisions made by current and previous councils will benefit township residents if he’s elected.
Andrew Watts said there’s very little he’d like to change about Wainfleet and sees its future as a haven where agriculture and a rural lifestyle remain the priority.