After completing his first term on the Township of North Glengarry Council, Jeff Manley is throwing his hat back in the ring to represent the Kenyon Ward.

His priority this time around is better communications for residents from the municipality and from council. “

It’s better than it was when I first came in, so there’s been some improvements. But I really do think we need a comprehensive plan for communications in the township,” he says.

He states that the municipality has seen a lot of changes over the past two years, including difficult internal upheaval when nearly 10% of the municipality’s tax bills were found to be incorrect. The OPP is still investigating.

Completion of the Maxville Water Supply Project is a close second on that priority list. The Liberals allocated additional dollars before the writ was dropped, to bring the total contribution of federal-provincial funding to 90% of the $30 million initiative.

The base was recently poured for the water tower, which is scheduled to be completed in early fall 2018. Construction for the distribution system is happening now on Maxville’s Main Street, which is due to be finished by summer 2019. “For the whole project, we’re looking at 2019 for completion,” confirms Manley.

To round out Manley’s top three priorities, he talks roads and says that a new, municipality-wide Roads Needs Study should happen in the next term of council. “I think we need to look deeper than just when we need to repave or regravel. I think we need a longer range plan of ‘is it best if this road is gravel or would it be better if we hard-surfaced it?’”, he explains. “We spend $400-500,000 a year on roads. We really have to look at the money that we do have, and make sure we’re spending in the best possible way we can.”

The retired teacher from Glengarry District High School says municipal government has presented its own learning curve. Personally, it’s sometimes a juggle to balance family and his public role. “You’re on all the time.”

Yet, he’s excited for the future and wants to continue to be a part of it as a councillor.

“I think the future of North Glengarry is great. Bottom line, as I did in my 31 years of teaching, I gave 100% all the time and I’m doing the same thing on Council. I’m involved in the community and I want to make North Glengarry better.”

To date, Manley remains the only candidate seeking election in the Kenyon ward.