Kincardine Mayor Kenneth Craig in his official photo, wearing the Chain of Office. (Photo via the Municipality of Kincardine)
As 2024 winds to a close, the mayor of Kincardine is feeling positive about what his council and municipality has accomplished over the past year.
Mayor Ken Craig says that he’s especially happy with how well this year’s tourism season went.
“[It was] a really spectacular summer in the municipality. We do a lot of events in cooperation with other groups. You’re familiar with the Scottish Festival, the Highland Games, the Lighthouse Blues Festival, we [had] baseball tournaments, Cruise Nights. Our fabulous pipe band was back in a revitalized downtown, so those tourism events are really good.”
In an interview with Bayshore News, he said that a big focus for 2024 was building partnerships with community organizations.
“We are seeing the continued improvements of community groups working together. There have been some policy changes, [that] were forced through legislation and through insurance to keep amending some of those working relationship agreements. It’s not easy,” he explained. “I appreciate the work that volunteer groups [do], the efforts they make to try and understand the municipal process. When we see the trails association working well together, the Lions Club in Tiverton and Kincardine have been really successful. And a little further afield, Saugeen Shores and Bruce Power have been working cooperatively to face some of the healthcare challenges. We couldn’t do it by ourselves, but we can do it in partnerships, so working together works better, no doubt.”
The Municipality of Kincardine has also been working on their Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw, which he says is an accomplishment for council and staff.
“It sounds dull and boring, but certainly it is a document that establishes the foundation for continued growth in our residential, commercial, and institutional projects. There’s a lot of legislative things that we have to do, and our council has worked,” he said. “We’ve faced some big challenges and worked pretty well together to advance those seemingly boring but necessary documents. And of course staff works really hard to bring us really good advice.”
Craig said that there are lots of things to look forward to in the new year.
“We have a very specific plan regarding the restoration for Station Beach,” he said. “[At] Station Beach there is a large capital project that will be started following the tourism season this year to revitalize it. It’s a piece of infrastructure, even though it looks like a beach. It’s a piece of infrastructure that’s used pretty much year round, and the repairs to the boardwalk and some of those pieces starting in 2025, are an important part of the tourism industry in our municipality.”
The municipality will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Davidson Centre in 2025, and big events are already planned for the facility that was named after a former municipal employee.
“In particular, there’s a Toronto Maple Leafs Alumni game planned for next September already. So we’re going to have, as well as all of the other tourism events, we will have this particular focus on recreation facilities in Kincardine that we’re really excited about.”
Craig added that at the midway point for the current term of council, it’s been really exciting and productive term. Although the municipality grieved the loss of Councillor Doug Kennedy, working with the rest of council, which started with a majority of first-term councillors, has been a rewarding experience.
“I’m not surprised with the quality. With every other organization, it takes time to build a relationship that builds confidence in each other, so that we can come to some really good decision-making for our community for years to come.”