On Monday, residents of the City of Waterloo cast their final ballots to determine the winning councillors for each of the wards in the region.
Melissa Durrell has been acclaimed and re-elected as councillor of Ward 7, which stretches all along uptown Waterloo.
Jeff Henry has been re-elected as councillor of Ward 6, which surrounds both universities and Northdale.
Durrell expressed her excitement for her renewed position as councillor.
“I am excited to work with the new council,” she said.
“We have put the City of Waterloo on a certain path and it means we will continue to move in that direction, and there is some new councillors as well, who can help be a part of that dialogue.”
She plans to continue working on the light rail transit initiative, with hopes of minimally impacting small business owners. There are also plans to change the streetscape in uptown Waterloo.
Durrell explained how there are plans to rework King Street by making it more vibrant, pedestrian friendly and cycling friendly. This is going to be a multi-million dollar project, she said.
She has also been working on an economic development project called the Waterloo Walk, which is going to naturalize Laurel Creek and transform it into an economic development area.
“We are changing the patterns of the way people are going to be using uptown. It is going to be transformational over the next four years,” said Durrell.
There are committees of council that help make decisions and a separate council dedicated to talking about the decisions that are made. Durrell encouraged students who are interested to apply to these positions in order to help make a difference within the community.
“I want to look for ways we can create more jobs to keep more students in this community,” she said.
Henry is also excited about renewing his position as Ward 6 councillor for the next four years.
“I think it’s a fantastic feeling to know that I have such broad engaged support across the community I represent,” he said.
“It means we really made a connection, I have been doing the right things, the right way with the community.”
He hopes to continue to listen to the community and help them with any concerns, while simultaneously moving the city forward.
Henry plans to look toward to the infrastructure challenge and to find an affordable, sustainable plan to renew that initiative.
He said he is also hoping to continue with the revitalization of Northdale, ensuring there is affordable housing within the neighbourhood.
He said he is excited to be working with the new mayor and new members of council.
“There are a lot of great initiatives that this council has started and the next council will need to see through,” he said.
