Looking Back: Guergis takes Springwater Twp.

Simcoe.com Dec 04, 2006
Springwater mayor Tony Guergis was in a good mood even before the results were announced. It was a good campaign, he said while waiting for the numbers at the Elmvale Community Hall. “Everyone ran a clean race.”
Guergis (2,491) beat out newcomer Michael Jacobs (1,965).
He believes residents have been generally satisfied with the course the township has taken because their main concerns were not even municipal responsibilities. “There were a lot of county and provincial issues,” he said. “That’s an endorsement of the municipality.”
He heard again and again strong feelings on Site 41, and the future of Elmvale District High School.
“I’d say development issues were number three,” he said. People he spoke to were more interested in having controls of the type of development in the township and the Hillsdale area was used as an example.
People want to keep the rural flavour of the township, they are not interested in becoming another Barrie, he said. “The people of Springwater don’t want to be urbanized.”
Their concerns were more over the development style of some areas.
Development will be an issue addressed through future planning for the county, which is one of Guergis’ priorities. The township’s boundaries shifted during amalgamation more than a decade ago and there has yet to be a mapped out plan for its future, he pointed out.
“There’s never been a real plan,” he said. “We need to plan for the future.”
He credits his strong campaign to the growing number of volunteers how helped him campaign across the large township.
Everyone seemed to work together for the betterment of the township.
Guergis was the township’s deputy mayor after the last election, but was appointed to mayor by council last September after long-time mayor John Brown died.
The mayor will be joined at the council table by deputy mayor Tony Hope, who took over that role when Guergis became mayor.
Hope defended his seat (2,057) against Francis Horgan (532) and Alison McLeod (1,790).
Dan Clement (880) squared off against Mark Duivenvoorde (68) in the vacant Ward 1; Reg Cowan (806) upended incumbent Tom Elliott (435) in Ward 2; Linda Collins (585) held on to her seat against Ross Money (317) in Ward 3 and Mick Caldwell (325) took Ward 4 in a race against Murray Money(200). Kim Anderson was acclaimed in Ward 5.