It’s safe to say that Mayor Dennis Brown is a staple in the community with nearly 25 years at the helm of Atikokan’s council. Since Brown is stepping down from his position, the residents casting their online ballots must have had a particular question on their minds.
What will the town be like without Brown as mayor?
Rob Ferguson is that answer.
Ferguson suggests that one of the reasons for Monday's voter turnout is Atikokan’s joining some of its municipalities in the switch to online voting. In this year’s municipal election Ferguson won his seat as mayor with 71.4 per cent leaving his rival Robbin Harper with 28.6 per cent.
“I have to give some much credit to the people at town hall,” said Ferguson, crediting clerk Sue Bates and deputy clerk Leah Fraser. “We went 100 per cent online, which was a really big chance for some people, but I think got to some of the people that don’t really get in their cars and go down to the polls. They had 10 days, 24-7 they could vote at their leisure.
"I think the people that will vote, they’ll find a way to vote, and for those who don’t think they have time to vote or they weren’t that engaged they took the opportunity to vote. I think that was a big part. So I have to give credit to Sue and Leah for pushing that and getting the vote out and really getting people excited about doing it.”
Ferguson said he's happy the election is over.
"It was a long summer going through this. But we got a really good council. We got some returnees and some new blood in there. I’m looking forward to getting going and making things happen here in Atikokan.”
Being the first to put his name on the ballot back in May, Ferguson campaigned throughout the summer with the thought of revitalizing the spirit of Atikokan, something he felt had been lost during the pandemic.
“COVID was a little tough the last couple of years,” Ferguson said. “There were a lot of things that didn’t happen and were postponed. Really just bring back that community spirit. I think that all the council members have.”
“We got some great citizens here, and they are really passionate about the community. I think we started turning the corner when we reopened after COVID. Our Bass Classic was postponed for two years. That’s our big festival in town in the middle of August and that got going but there are other things that we can do to get that community spirit up.
"Get involved, get down to the rink, down to the curling rink, all the places where people like to meet and get together. All the stuff was really put on hold. So, we really just want to hit the ground running on that stuff and get it back in the limelight. Give the people things to do here. We have a lot of passion in the community and we want to get them back into the community and enjoying themselves.”
Joining Ferguson on the council will be incumbents Jim Johnson and Liz Shine and newcomers Gord Knowles, Kisti-Lynn McQuay, Gordon Martin, and Janelle Zacharias.
Ferguson said the new council will be different. Some of the new faces are younger and will have to split their time between the town and their full-time employment.
“We congratulated each other last night and we are excited,” Ferguson said. “We are going to be doing things a little different. Believe it or not, I was the youngest person on council for the last term, so we’ve got a lot of newer faces. The people have full-time work, so we are going to be looking at doing council a little different.”
Ferguson said that the new council has a lot of enthusiasm. They are already bringing their ideas to the table, and Ferguson feels that there is synergy among those ideas.
“I’m going to be leveraging that with the new council and getting them involved in things that they are passionate about,” said Ferguson. “I think we are all passionate about making Atikokan better.”
For those new council members about to take their role in the office, Ferguson offers a piece of advice.
“I think everybody that goes into council for the first time has a lot of great ideas and they don’t understand why things don’t get done in a timely manner. I think they have to learn that there is a process and we are dealing with the provincial government which calls a lot of shots and there are only so many things that we can do,” said Ferguson.
“Have patience. We are not going to change the world in a day, but we have to stay vigilant. We have to stay diligent and keep moving forward. It is frustrating when you get on council, and you think that you can just make things happen. It is a process. Just stay passionate, and we can make things happen.”
