Two mayors in running to be Essex County’s next warden
Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos and Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara are vying to become Essex County’s new leader. County council will elect its warden, the leader for the next four years, Dec. 12 by secret ballot. “A lot of good things have come with the relationships with the city,” McNamara said Friday, crediting outgoing Warden Tom Bain for his leadership and consensus building. “It’s critical moving forward to approach everything on a regional basis.”
Bain, warden since December 2010 and from December 1992 to November 1993, announced in January he wouldn’t put his name forward again.
Santos served as warden from late 2006 to 2010 before Bain. Santos has been Kingsville’s mayor since 2003, has also served as deputy warden, and put his name forward earlier this month for the top post. He ran against Bain and former Leamington Mayor John Paterson in 2014 for the warden’s job. Santos couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday. McNamara has been Tecumseh’s mayor since 2003. He’s served on county council for 20 years and is a past-president who has served 15 years with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). He was the AMO president in 2012 and from 2014 to 2016.
“I really believe I do have the experience,” McNamara said. “Over the years, I’ve been able to develop a strong network at Queen’s Park and certainly Ottawa not only with the government of the day but also with the bureaucracy.” Adding lanes to Highway 3 will continue to be an important issue. McNamara said the highway is dangerous with numerous crashes and fatalities. He said it’s also important to expand and improve it because of the economic impact of the greenhouses and manufacturers that use the highway to transport goods to the United States. “This particular highway is long overdue to be finished.” McNamara said another issue at the county level will be working together to make sure gains made in funding and other areas in the last few years aren’t lost, especially with the provincial government challenged by a huge deficit. McNamara said he wants to continue to work with the city, pointing out Windsor/Essex has enough to deal with when it considers competition from the rest of the world for businesses and jobs and must promote itself as a region. “We have better days ahead,” he said.
McNamara was deputy warden from 2010 to 2014 and 2003 to 2007. The last Essex County warden from Tecumseh was Ed Renaud in 1992.
After electing the warden, county councillors will elect a deputy warden. It’s a bit early for people to put their names forward for that position. Former LaSalle mayor Ken Antaya has served as the deputy warden since 2014 and did not seek re-election as mayor. County council is made up of the mayors and deputy mayors from the seven municipalities in Essex County.