King Township council looks ahead to new term

Roads, internet, infrastructure remain top priorities during next 4 years.

YorkRegion.com
January 3, 2019
Sheila Wang

King Township’s new council is ready to hit the ground running.

Mayor Steve Pellegrini and six ward councillors were sworn in on Dec. 3 in the township’s brand-new council chamber. King Connection reached out to all council members on their priorities in the new term after the inauguration ceremony.

While every councillor has a long list of goals to achieve, we asked them the one(s) that they felt most confident about accomplishing within four years. Roads, internet and infrastructure remain the top priorities of the new council.

See their detailed answers below.

Mayor Steve Pellegrini:

The first priority is to update our official plan, and that will definitely be done in 2019; increase broadband throughout King; improve our roads, so the 15th, 8th and 10th will all be done; And the final one which is a more general one is to improve the lives of our residents and businesses. That would be construction of our library and senior centre. And we’re gonna start on a new rec centre at Seneca.

Ward 1 Councillor Jordan Cescolini:

I wanted to emphasize the safety in our community is No. 1, safety in terms of how people feel but also on residential streets. I wanted to champion lowering the speed limit, and invest in road infrastructure that divert commuter traffic away from residential roads. We wanted to make sure that we get cars off the road faster, safely and take that carbon out of our environment.

Ward 2 Councillor David Boyd

I think the big one for Ward 2 is to continue investment in infrastructure, primarily our road infrastructure. We’ve got a couple of major projects started in Ward 2 where we’re very far into the design phase and public consultation already about the reconstruction of the 10th Concession and the key portion of the 10th Concession, 15th Side Road over to the 8th Concession. That’s a big priority project for myself and my staff.

Ward 3 Councillor Jakob Schneider, did not respond to multiple requests for comments.

Ward 4 Councillor Bill Cober:

Certainly, continue to invest in core infrastructure, such as our roads. The No. 1 item that was mentioned to me throughout the campaign is investment in our roads and making sure our budget is responsible to address our core municipal services. Certainly, we’re focused on increasing our commercial industrial tax base, supporting job creation, and increasing services for our residents.

Ward 5 Councillor Debbie Schaefer:

I wanted to see that we’re going to have an updated good official plan for King. We’ll also have an updated plan for the second level of the official plan, for the villages, and for the rural area. So, that is certainly something I want to see have done. I very much want to see that we have a very specific strategy for building our new recreation centre, which needs to be affordable, and needs to meet the need of the community.

Ward 6 Councillor Avia Eek:

My focus on council will remain bringing a voice for agriculture, the environment, and economic development. Those have always been my focuses on council. That will not change. We have some exciting projects coming up, particularly for Ward 6. We have new playground equipment for the Ansnorveldt Park, complete with a shelter. We’re looking at transforming the former Holland Marsh District Christian School.