Madawaska Valley’s new mayor says he has the professional background to serve the township well.
Mark Willmer was a long-time City of Ottawa employee, who worked in recreation and asset management. He was also a councillor in Arnprior, where he lived. Upon retiring, he moved to Madawaska Valley and was elected to its council in 2018.
Now that he’s mayor, he plans on putting his civil experience to good use, guiding council on decisions related to parks, recreation and municipal buildings.
“You can’t let your buildings get into disrepair,” he says. ” I think that’s one of my big things moving forward. We have to keep improving them. I don’t see any huge spending items, but I see a need to stay on top of how we manage our assets, particularly our recreational ones.”
Willmer adds the township is poised to grow more over the next four years. He sees his role as to help guide that growth.
He’s excited about new housing developments going up, but wants to make sure they’re done in an environmentally-friendly way.
“Our development is increasing quickly,” he says. “During the last four years we revamped our planning and building departments to deal with it. I think we have that in place to handle it.
“I support development, because I believe it’s necessary to keep our taxes low. However, I do believe the environment is the biggest asset in our community. So planning has to be done carefully and it has to protect the environment.”
Willmer adds that he doesn’t believe the township will take on many big expensive projects in the new term, noting that now is a time to be fiscally responsible. But that could change, if the township is able to secure senior government grants.
He also says he wanted to be mayor because he’s a “people person” and loves meeting constituents and getting out to events.
