Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor-elect Iain Lovatt ready to move forward

“There’s a lot of expectations and not just on me but all of council,” Lovatt said.

Yorkregion.com
December 14, 2018
Simon Martin

It didn’t take long for Whitchurch-Stouffville mayor-elect Iain Lovatt to get a taste of what is to come with his new job.

Walking out of Metro with groceries, an older lady grabbed his arm, he recalled: “’You. You. You.’ She said it like six times. ‘I voted for you. You’re our new mayor.’”   

After a tumultuous four years of council marred by investigations and myriad staff departures, Whitchurch-Stouffville residents tapped Lovatt as the candidate to right the ship.

He feels that weight.

“There’s a lot of expectations and not just on me, but all of council,” he said. “We have to start moving things along.” 

The council Lovatt will work with isn’t all that different than the previous council.

Ken Ferdinands, Maurice Smith, Hugo Kroon and Rick Upton are returning councillors while Richard Bartley and Sue Sherban are back to the dais after a hiatus.

Lovatt often found himself on the opposite side of votes from the returning councillors, but he's confident they will be able to work together.

“I’m not going to take issues personally if I happen to be on the wrong side of the vote,” he said.

While not as young as the town’s previous mayor, Justin Altmann, Lovatt brings an energetic vibe to the town’s offices.

You might see him dressed in jeans and Chuck Taylors or a crisp suit.

“My dad told me ‘you dress for your audience’,” he said.   

You get the sense he's ready to move on from the Altmann saga, but legal cases involving the town are still before the courts.

“It’s not going away any time soon,” he said.

It’s easy to dwell on the past but Lovatt appears to have a sharp focus on progress. After all, he ends his emails with the word “Onward,” his campaign slogan was ‘Forward Together’ and he is currently reading Dare to Lead by Brené Brown.

“I read a lot of leadership and business books; listen to a lot of podcasts,” he said. 

Progress to Lovatt starts with changing the culture at the town.

“I want us to be a place where we’re not afraid to fail and where we’re creative and innovative and empowered to make decisions,” he said. “We have to eliminate a culture of fear and it’s starting to happen. The atmosphere has changed … there is just general excitement about the future. ”

The future looks busy for Lovatt.

After inauguration Dec. 4,  he said council is going to have come up with a position on cannabis stores relatively quickly.

Other priorities include developing a plan for Gormley, rural broadband and transportation.

While some things are staff-driven, Lovatt said these are issues that can benefit from having political force behind them to come up with some solutions.

Lovatt is excited about the town's future.

“I like to try new stuff,” he said. “People want to move forward.”