Lonnie Watkins

Oct 02, 2014

Councillor

Lonnie Watkins – A Team Player in the 2014 race

Lonnie Watkins comes from a long line of municipal politicians and employees. His father was the roads superintendent for Clarendon/Miller for 26 years; his mother was the roads bookkeeper for 29 years; his grandfather sat on council for 29 years; and his great-great grandfather, Bramwell Watkins, was the original reeve of the former township.

Watkins has represented Ward 2 (Clarendon/Miller) at North Frontenac Council for eight years, but this time instead of running in his own ward as a two-time incumbent he is appealing to new voters by seeking a council seat in Ward 1 (Barrie).

When asked why he is running in Ward 1, he responded, “We don't go to Council to protect the interests of our own ward; we go there to serve the township as a whole. We need to listen to people and what their needs are, and help those people out no matter which ward they live in. We need to stand as one united township and work as a team to prosper. There is strength in numbers and together we can all see success!

“I had not been intending to run in this election, but people have been encouraging me to run and I realized that I would really appreciate the opportunity to see a lot of the unsettled issues resolved”

Quite a few of the initiatives that council had taken on during the last two terms were important to Watkins.

He would really like to see more growth and development brought into the community.

He states that the new council will have to think long and hard before putting more money into the township office.

He would like to see alternative practices considered at township waste sites to limit the amount of cover material that is required. “Not only does that sand we use cost money, it takes up space in the dumps, and we need that space,” he said.

He also said he thinks it would be a mistake to walk away from the Dark Skies initiative because the Ontario Air Ambulance is now requiring lights at the adjacent helipad. “There is a $3,000 option that would bring up the lights automatically whenever they are needed. We could do that. It's like having a $50,000 truck that needs new lights. You don't throw it out, you buy new lights,” he said.