Heading into the October municipal election, Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano said she is stepping away from politics altogether.
Terziano, who has served on municipal council for three terms, was Deputy Mayor when then-Mayor Scott Aitchison resigned from the position in 2019 in order to serve as Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka.
In conversation with Doppler, Terziano said she quickly found out there is a big difference between being the mayor of a municipality versus being a councillor. “You’re just sort of on-call, all the time it seems.”
Why she’s not running again
Asked why she’s not running again, she said: “Mostly because at the end of this term I’ll have served for 12 years, and I think 12 years is a pretty good number. I think there’s probably people out there, new faces, some new and exciting ideas, and it’s someone else’s turn to lead or just to participate on council.”
Did she enjoy being the mayor of Huntsville?
Terziano said she has enjoyed her time as mayor, because she met some incredible people along her journey. “COVID has brought out the best in the best of people and sometimes the worst in the worst of people… you get a number of complaints, but I talked to so many people who were really positive and very thankful, so you know that made all the difference in the world.”
Pet peeve?
“I guess I wish people would look at a glass half full instead of half empty. And I’m not saying that most don’t, but I think that if people, instead of complaining all the time, said, ‘well how can I help or how can I make a change,’ we’d get more done at the end of the day.”
She said despite the negativity that goes along with the job, she reminds herself that those people do not represent all of the residents in the community.
Advice for a new mayor?
Terziano advises anyone who enters the position for the very first time to be prepared. “It’s sort of going to be your life for the next four years. And maybe that was partly my fault, maybe that was just how I operated. Maybe somebody else wouldn’t, but I feel like it sort of takes over and you have to maybe draw a few boundaries in order to still have a life, but at the end of the day you’re doing it because you want to make your community better. So, you get out of it what you put into it, I think.”
Council doesn’t have the free will many think it does
Terziano said most people may not realize that council doesn’t have the free will to do as much as people think they can do. “There are so many rules through the Municipal Act that ties council’s hands.”
Planning decisions are tough
Sitting on the municipality’s planning committee has been one of the toughest parts of the job, said Terziano. Staff will make recommendations on planning applications based on the Planning Act, and then it’s up to council to decide if there are extenuating circumstances that should be taken into consideration. “Sometimes that causes them to go against staff’s recommendation and when we end up in an… LPAT (Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) hearing because of that, it’s very hard to defend it because you’ve gone against your staff recommendation.”
Terziano also said it’s difficult because people tend to be upset when committee’s recommendation to council is not in their favour. She has also increasingly called for committee to follow staff’s recommendation.
“There was a time that I thought that that was committee’s role, to make the exception because staff just follow the Planning Act, but I think you have to determine what kind of exceptions you’re making. If you develop an Official Plan (OP) and you hire qualified staff to enforce it and then you continually don’t follow it, I don’t think you’re probably going to get great development,” she said, adding that as a rule, most of the time the OP should be followed.
Highlights?
Terziano said one of the highlights during her time as mayor has been seeing the expansion of Fairvern Nursing Home, finding a new location for the building and, after the volunteer board indicated it was a project too big for it to manage, convincing her fellow District councillors to have the District take over its management. “I think the alternative for me was going to be that we could’ve lost Fairvern. So, that’s what I’ll probably remember most about this term.”
Is it okay for municipal representatives to endorse provincial candidates?
Terziano was among 10 local municipal representatives, both current and former, who endorsed Graydon Smith in the recent provincial election. When asked if elected officials, who are representing their constituents, should endorse a provincial candidate, Terziano had this to say: “I’ve worked with Graydon [Smith] for a number of years and he’s a good, hard-working individual. And in my mind, I knew that the Progressive Conservatives were going to win this election in the province and our community is better off with our representative going to Queen’s Park in the party that governs. So, those are really the reasons why I did it.”
Terziano was thankful for those who have been supportive, particularly as council navigates the pandemic but she noted that she still has a few months left to go “and I’ll be here ’til the end.”
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Sandy McLennan says
Good interview. Thank you to Karin Terziano for 12 years of dedicated public service (not done yet).
It is confirming to see this verified, as it’s quite apparent that something undesirable has been going on: “If you develop an Official Plan (OP) and you hire qualified staff to enforce it and then you continually don’t follow it, I don’t think you’re probably going to get great development”. Too bad, and Very Late now.