Veteran Municipal Politician Rick Lloyd Seeks Deputy Mayor's Chair In October 2010 Municipal Election

Long time Collingwood Councilor Rick Lloyd wants to come back to the council table and play a meaningful role in returning stable, team-oriented government to Collingwood.

A familiar face to Collingwood municipal politics is looking to return to the council table. Sixteen year council veteran Rick Lloyd was first elected to Collingwood council in 1985. The local businessman and recent President of the Collingwood Chamber of Commerce has been away from municipal politics for the past term. Watching the current council struggle badly with important decisions has impelled him to ask for your vote to elect him to the position of Deputy Mayor.

Rick Lloyd is concerned about what he calls the town's "runaway debt" that has grown from $27 million three years ago to approximately $50 million today. "We have to be much more aware of how much debt the Collingwood tax payers can take on and spend wisely."

Lloyd has seen enough of the majority of the outgoing council's inability to work together and tackle matters of importance to the municipality and the citizens of Collingwood. Lloyd feels Collingwood's procedural bylaw is not allowing council to make a decision. "How can you properly represent your constituents when you can't bring something back to the table," said Lloyd, noting council is prevented from revisiting a decision thanks to flawed rules and improper changes to the procedural bylaw.

Lloyd pointed out that changes to the town's procedural bylaw were brought in following the multi-use facility debates that saw the issue come back to the council table several times over a three week period before being voted down. Lloyd said that portion of the bylaw was updated again after the town purchased the Tremont Hotel and Palace Livery properties.

Presently, the town's own legislation states a matter cannot be reconsidered for one year, unless new information is presented and two-thirds of council agree the issue can be brought back to the table.

"This situation isn't right, and the flawed rules make it difficult for council to represent the wishes of the people who elected them," said Lloyd.

He sees the recent patio issue as yet another example of the inability of Collingwood council to listen to the business owners, the citizens and the experience of business owners and municipal politicians in other communities to arrive at a proper conclusion.

Rick Lloyd is a BIA business owner and a member of the BIA executive. While he understood the reasoning for the proposed change of location for downtown patios brought forward in the initial planning for the revitalized downtown district, he now feels the facts overwhelmingly dictate that the patios should stay where they were, adjacent to the buildings. Lloyd has listened to the concerns of restaurant owners who raised issues of liability and safety if patios were moved curbside. He has also listened to Fire Chief Trent Elyea's concerns about safety in an emergency situation if patios were situated curbside.

"The town should have done more research when these items became issues," said Lloyd. "It's absolutely atrocious the town's processes wouldn't allow reconsideration or deferral without a lot of political wrangling. I think it's wise to admit if an original decision was wrong if new information is received, and give in to common sense."

Of course, the tone for this four year council term was set when the newly elected council immediately killed the Admiral Collingwood development as one of the first orders of business following the previous municipal election. Lloyd realizes that the actions of council have been destructive to attracting new business opportunities to the town at the expense of jobs and much needed tax revenue.

"I can bring years and years of municipal experience and a lot of common sense back to the table as Deputy Mayor" said Lloyd. "I look forward to taking on the issues and resolving them in an intelligent manner. Let's get back to business and work for the better good of everyone in Collingwood.