Junkin expects new town council will make speedy transition
Pelham mayor-elect Marvin Junkin isn’t worried that his incoming town council has zero political experience.
Junkin will be joined by six new councillors representing the municipality’s three wards.
Last year, Junkin resigned from his post as a Ward 1 councillor out of frustration with how council was conducting its business, he said at the time.
With an orientation day scheduled for Dec. 1 to get the new collective of politicians a head start on policy and procedure, co-ordinated by clerk Nancy Bozzato, Junkin is confident it will be an easy changeover from citizen to elected official for everyone.
“With her guidance, and everyone’s enthusiasm, I think they’ll make the transition rather quickly,” he said.
Mike Ciolfi, elected to represent Ward 1 along with Marianne Stewart, said getting up to speed on the processes involved with running a government won’t be a simple task, but he is eager to get started.
“Everybody seems to be very excited and learning very quick,” he said.
“We’re going to be thrown into the fire right away.”
Other newcomers are Ron Kore and John Wink for Ward 2 and Lisa Haun and Bob Hildebrandt in Ward 3.
How to deal with Airbnb properties in the town’s boundaries is an issue at the top of Junkin’s priority list for town council.
“We’ll get some public meetings going and see where we end up with those,” he said.
There are five federally licensed commercial cannabis growing operations in Pelham, some of them a cause for concern with neighbouring residents over odours.
This is a matter that will “have to be faced” to make sure they are “not a detriment to the rest of the town,” Junkin said.
Said Ciolfi, “We have to deal with it. Cannabis is going to be there, it’s not going away, and we just have to make sure everybody is happy with it.”
Town council being replaced in the Oct. 22 election is a sign residents were not pleased with how things were handled over the previous four years.
Junkin cited the new arena complex as just one example.
“Most people felt like they weren’t being dealt with honestly,” said Junkin.
He said a sweeping turnover at Niagara Region is also proof that there was a thirst for change across the peninsula, as well as in Pelham.
Pelham voters elected Diana Huson to the upper level of government.
“They didn’t think they could get it with the guys that were in charge and decided to put people in who will hopefully relate more to their concerns,” said Junkin.
Meanwhile, he looks forward to the Ontario Ombudsman reporting back with findings about the tainted hiring process of the Region’s CAO Carmen D’Angelo.
“After we get that report, we will decide which direction to take on that,” he said.
Keeping pressure on the province for GO transit expansion into Niagara, as well as attracting industry will also be major focal point for the mayor at regional meetings.
“The industry around here does seem to be picking up and if we can keep that going, we’ll attract some nice, high-paying jobs,” he said.