A longtime Windsor city councillor has some words of advice for his successor.
Bill Marra, who has represented Ward 8 for 21 years, announced this past spring that he will not seek a seventh term on council. He used election day on Monday to stress the importance of voting and to pass along some of the experience he gained while serving.
Gary Kaschak was declared the unofficial winner of Ward 8 Monday night. Marra told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that Kaschak will need to take the values he campaigned on and do one specific job.
"Listen carefully," said Marra. "Represent those values at council and certainly at the committee work. If they sustain those relationships during their four-year term, they will be successful at representing their community, first and foremost."
Marra said Kaschak will need to make sure he's on top of whatever is happening in the ward at all times and be receptive to the issues facing it.
"You do that by getting connected to neighbourhood groups, non-profit organizations, groups that perhaps represent certain interests in their neighbourhoods," said Marra. "BIA's [business improvement associations] are wonderful sources. Stay true to those relationships."
Marra is retiring from municipal politics to concentrate on his full-time work at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. He was first elected in 1994 in an upset over longtime councillor Tom Toth and had served almost continuously since. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2003.
Kaschak defeated seven other challengers in the only open race on council, including former federal Liberal MP candidate David Sundin.