Community News

OUTGOING MAYOR REFLECTS ON AN EVENTFUL 8-YEAR TERM

ANDY LETHAM LED THE CITY THROUGH COUNCIL CUTS, A GLOBAL PANDEMIC AND PLANNING FOR UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH DURING HIS TIME AT THE HELM

BARBARA-ANN MACEACHERN bmaceachern@mykawartha.com

After spending eight years helping to plan for the future of Kawartha Lakes, outgoing mayor Andy Letham says his own future is still a blank page — and that suits him just fine.

"I'm going to be 60 in a month and I want to do other things with my life. I have no idea what those things are right now, but if I stay here then I won't get to do any of them," he said, adding he only ever wanted to serve two terms.

He'll go down south for the winter, catch up on some reading and acclimatize himself to a slower pace.

A break that is well-earned after a particularly eventful time in office.

Letham has seen a litany of challenges and changes during his time as mayor; from a worldwide pandemic to council deciding to cut itself in half.

Of the latter move, Letham is very proud, adding many municipalities wouldn't even consider such a drastic cull, but that it was the right call for Kawartha Lakes.

"That the last council had the courage to cut half their jobs for what they felt was a better model for the city moving forward" was a big bold statement, he said, one that vastly improved productivity. Among other accomplishments, Letham is proud of the work done to rejuvenate downtowns for today, and creating a mindset of fiscal responsibility for the future.

Council taking steps to establish a longer view of the city's finances was a big win for Letham. He said decisions are now more based on the big picture rather than being reactive at budget time.

"You have to have a plan. We're not a dinky little company; we're a $350-million corporation and having a long-term financial plan is crucial for getting work done, for financing and for our staff to plan accordingly," he said.

A more immediately apparent accomplishment in Letham's time as mayor is the significant revitalizations of downtowns in Kawartha Lakes, including most recently Fenelon Falls and Lindsay, and now Omemee.

"They are the heartbeats of our communities," said Letham, adding renovations were desperately needed from an infrastructure standpoint and were able to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I give our staff a lot of credit" for finding a safe way to proceed, he said.

"Many municipalities put everything on hold. We were able to continue on with those; otherwise, the road would still be torn up and we would still be doing it."

The downtown work supports local businesses that have had a hard few years and boosts the economy by making them more tourist-friendly, he added.

"They see that we take pride in our downtowns and I think that speaks for the whole community of what we are trying to do," he said, adding he would like the next council continue downtown work in the smaller communities.

Although council and staff were able to keep much of the business of the city moving throughout a time of global uncertainty, the division created was absolutely felt by the mayor.

"I took a lot of flak when other mayors were telling people not to come to their seasonal residences and I said, 'it's your property'," he said of going against the premier's recommendations.

"To me, these seasonal people are part of our community and they have been for hundreds of years, so I'm not going to stand up as mayor and say 'don't come to your own property that you pay taxes on,'" he said, adding people should be trusted to use their own common sense.

Ultimately, Letham wasn't comfortable turning his back on people during a time when they should be coming together, he

said.

And although some of his mayoral decisions and those of council were controversial, Letham stands firm they were right and is proud of city's hall's response to a truly unprecedented situation.

"I think we kept a pretty steady hand. We didn't overreact or underreact; we just kept it steady and I heard from a lot of residents who appreciated that level-headed leadership," he says.

However, when it comes to missed opportunities or "what ifs," Walmart has got to be at the top of Letham's list, even though he believes staff and council did help move the deal along — it just wasn't enough.

"The municipality did the zoning years ago; we put incentives in our development charges for commercial build; we really did everything we could and now it became up to the developer to make a deal with a Walmart."

The deal was very close before the pandemic, according to Letham, but then the global upheaval brought everything to a grinding halt and made many large companies question their bricks and mortar approach.

"I'm not convinced it's done by any means, but I would have liked to have been able to finalize that under my term. It was just one of those things that everybody talked about; it was the first question I ever got asked, all the time, and I know how much it meant to our community," he said wistfully.

"We'll see, maybe the next guy can put a shovel in the ground for that one. I'm disappointed that we missed it, but I know for a fact that they are still working on it."

For now, Letham says he is focused on

finishing up his responsibilities with the city and ensuring council is passing the torch to a largely new group in a good position to move forward.

The wheels are already turning for massive growth and development, which will bring in money by way of development fees and a larger tax base, he said. But it has to be done right, Letham warned, meaning gradually and sustainably over a number of years because such expansion won't be without its growing pains.

"With the development comes more roads to plow, upgrades to our water systems, the cost of infrastructure increases too, so it's not a pure gift to the municipality every time a new house is built."

There will be additional challenges for the next term of council as the city's business model is likely not sustainable long

term, in Letham's opinion.

"Budgets are going to be a challenge and we're going to be expected to deliver the same services with less people and probably less money, so how that's going to work depends on how patient council is and how they want to prioritize some of those services," Letham warned, advising new council members to be realistic and adaptable to the needs of residents as the city grows.

Since there will be so many new faces in the upcoming council term, Letham says city staff will be an important support in keeping the forward momentum going.

"I think our residents should know and future councillors should know that we have some awesome staff here who do an awesome job and if they give them the tools and respect to do the job, we will continue to move forward as a municipality."

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2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281487870227467

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