- Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
If you were to judge strictly by numbers in attendance at the Grey County municipal candidate information meeting, you could conclude that current members of local councils and boards of education can breathe easy.
There were fewer than 20 people in the audience, outnumbered by staff from the County, all nine of its member municipalities, and the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MMA).
Sharon Vokes, retired Clerk of Grey County said this is early in the year for this kind of meeting, and there will be another similar meeting held later in June where she expects to see a bigger crowd. This is an unusual situation, because the MMA staff cannot do this work during the provincial election period.
I can personally recommend a free workshop "So you want to run for council" being held May 5 from 10 until 12 at the Beaver Valley Community Centre. The speaker, Fred Dean, has a dry wit - he is enlightening and pulls no punches about the realities of municipal office. People have been known to come up to him after one of these and say "Thanks for this - I won't be running." But I can assure you that if you do decide to run, you'll feel much more informed about the job after you hear Fred.
There are over sixty positions up for election in Grey County this October 22.
You can register to run for municipal council or school board trustee beginning May 1 until July 27 at 2 p.m. Lots more details are available at the City of Owen Sound website (or your own municipality) and on the Ministry of Municipal Affairs site.
And be sure you are on the voters' list - at VoterLookup.ca.