Newly elected Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma is excited to get started on the next council term after serving as a councillor for many years.
Ritsma says there are a number of things he wants to try to address for residents.
"Ongoing communication with all our residents. That open communication with our residents where someone can pickup the phone and call me and know that they're going to have a sincere, open conversation," Ritsma proclaimed.
Ritsma adds that affordable housing and addressing homelessness is a massive focus, seemingly country wide
"Housing and homelessness, I put them together because there is a need for housing and it stretches from those that are living rough, homeless individuals, all the way through to young families that are trying to rent or buy their first home," said Ritsma. "I'm really happy with the work that we're doing right now, we've got our first report with regards to attainable housing and kind of a made in Stratford approach. So we're gonna be looking at that at our next council meeting."
In terms of a broader fix, Ritsma echoed the comments of most other municipal leaders in stating that more collaboration has to happen between municipalities, the province and the federal government to solve the housing issues, as well as funding issues for big infrastructure projects.
"Saying to the government, you know, we don't have enough dollars in municipalities, and Stratford's not the smallest, but we're small, and I think about rural municipalities, we don't have enough dollars to take care of those big time needs," Ritsma stated.
Despite that, Stratford is eying a new project to try and repurpose an old property and bring in money.
"The former Grand Trunk Railroad shops, that structure as it stands, we've done some abatement of asbestos, of lead from steel, it is ready to be our next big investment," Ritsma added. "Whether it's high density housing, whether it's housing for close by to that location, university students, whether it's more permanent parking, that is probably gonna be the next gem, if I can use that word, in the Stratford skyline."