For Earl Taylor, it was the classic case of so near and yet so far.
In the 2022 municipal election, Taylor lost out to Tara McCaulley by five votes for the final seat on St. Thomas municipal council.
After McCaulley stepped away from council early in the new year, members on Feb. 10 appointed Taylor to fill the vacant seat.
An unexpected turn of events.
As Taylor puts it, “I was just finishing up my ten years with the downtown development board. I thought, okay, I’ll get rid of a couple of things off my plate. I’ve done that for ten years, change hats, slow down, maybe do some camping, but never really left the community. No, real estate was still my go-to and it was one of those things that the hat is there and now I got to put it back on again.”
Taylor adds the health of the downtown core is still a priority for him, now through the eyes of a city councillor.
And part and parcel of the downtown is The INN, the city’s emergency shelter.
Taylor served for 10 years as chair of the Downtown Development Board and for more than three decades has been a realtor in St. Thomas.
As the newest member of city council, Taylor admits he is in listening mode, but that will not be for long.
And a critical area for the city moving forward is housing to accommodate industrial growth, in particular the PowerCo EV battery gigafactory due to begin production in 2027.
And downsizing, to help the growing number of empty nesters.
It’s only been a couple of meetings, however Taylor admits he’s starting to settle in the council chamber at city hall.
“It’s a lot of reading. It’s new stuff that I may not have understood before, but I know the fellow councillors around the table. I know the mayor personally, I have always had their phone numbers. It’s not like I’m jumping into a something brand new. It’s an ongoing process with my life in the city here since, well, I guess I’ve been here since 1977.
“But yeah, I’m dedicated. I’m not just here to fill a vacancy, by any means. I had the opportunity to say no. I mean, I could have said no. No is not in my playbook.”
Taylor adds for people who are not familiar with him, “let’s sit down and have a coffee, have a bottle of water, whatever it happens to be and see how we can figure this out.”
Written by Ian McCallum
