Renfrew County Warden Peter Emon says addressing homelessness and access to health care will be among his top priorities as he approaches a new term.
The veteran politician is expected to be appointed Warden for a second-straight year when county council meets on Dec. 12, as he’s the only nominee. The Warden provides leadership to the 17 municipalities that make up Renfrew County.
Emon, who has served in municipal governments for 35 years now, says municipal politics has changed, as it’s no longer dominated by infrastructure-related decisions.
He says, working on projects, such as the Renfrew County Virtual Triage Assessment Centre (V-TAC), a new program that helps people receive health care services virtually, represents the new “human” element to municipal work.
“We’re increasingly being called upon to look outside of our traditional scope of responsibilities,” he says. “We’re going to be addressing plans around homelessness and affordable housing. We’re in the process, always, of further developing the V-TAC model; we have 30,000 people in our community who don’t have a family doctor and it’s our responsibility to ensure our community is safe.”
He also hopes the county will have an “aggressive” infrastructure renewal program in his new term, as he says many roads need to be re-paved or re-constructed.