Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton said when it comes to looking back on 2020, it’s hard not to mention COVID-19.
When the pandemic first hit, Mayor Linton said the township had to shift gears really quickly, and they also had to get into an emergency management situation real quick.
Linton said he had to declare a state of emergency, both as the Mayor of Centre Wellington, and as the Warden of Wellington County, doing that in unison with the other six mayors across the County.
“We established a $1 million Keep Well – [Emergency Business] Sustainability fund for the County, that supported 39 businesses across Centre Wellington,” Linton said. “First County in Ontario to do that, followed by many others.”
He said as far as Centre Wellington goes, the township had to put in place a support local initiative, which included a $50,000 fund for grants, for local businesses.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one of Mayor Linton’s top highlights of this year, is having the momentum to being able to still get things done for the township.
“Bridges, roads, [and] other infrastructure is still getting built, regardless of COVID-19, we’re still on track to rebuild 21 bridges in eight years, in comparison to the five bridges in the previous eight years,” Linton expressed.
Linton said that all this demonstrates to him is the resilience and excellence of township staff, and the leadership team that they have in place.
Continuing to look back on this year, Mayor Linton said that COVID-19 was by far the toughest thing to deal with.
He said the tough thing about COVID-19 is having to make decisions as municipal leaders without all the information.
“COVID-19 was not like anything else we’ve seen, it wasn’t a regional illness, it was a global pandemic,” Linton said. “There were so many things that were outside our sphere of influence, that we had to make decisions quickly, without all the information on what we were dealing with. And that makes it really, really difficult.”
Linton said from the [Wellington County] Warden side of things, he had the support of all six mayors across the County.
He added that it’s very important to have a leadership team that demonstrates respect, and works together, especially in an emergency situation.
Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton: