Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Ric Bresee has served on Loyalist Township council for 18 years. He’s seen significant growth and helped steer the municipality through challenges associated to that. This fall, he wants to do more.
The two-term deputy mayor filed paperwork last week to succeed Mayor Bill Lowry, who is retiring after this term. Bresee said it was an easy decision for him.
“This community is my home. It has always been my home and a home takes work. I want to keep on helping this community to continue to be home for a lot of people,” he said. “I love doing this. It has been my passion for a number of years.”
A longtime adaptive technologist at St. Lawrence College and a former small businessman in Loyalist, Bresee is now an associate director with the University Kingston Hospitals Foundation. He has also served as chair of Lennox and Addington County’s economic development commission and the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. He’d like his next workplace to be the township office.
“I want to be the first mayor that’s actually in the office. It’s always been a part-time job,” he said. “In the time I’ve been there, we’ve gone from 11,000 or 12,000 people to 18,000. We have a huge staff, and there’s massive growth going on. We’re at the stage where we need the mayor to be in the office.”
That way, Bresee said he can take a hands-on approach, alongside municipal staff, to attracting economic development to the township which is a key for keeping young people at home and employed. He said he’d like to pound the pavement and initiate contacts with employers interested in relocating.
With housing booming in his native Amherstview, Bresee knows diversification is important.
“A big part of where we need to go is promoting the business side of economic development. We’re doing a really good job in Loyalist right now building the residential population and getting development done. That’s something I want to see continue, but we need to do a better job of getting commercial and industrial activities going for the jobs and for the tax base.”
The continued success of the Taylor-Kidd Industrial Park is an example of how that can be accomplished. Bresee said there’s about a half-dozen developments there and as Bombardier grows, service companies connected to its business are a way the township’s base can grow.
He credited staff for keeping ahead of long-term infrastructure planning by extending service infrastructure up County Rd. 6 to Odessa and finding innovative ways to treat sewage that have actually resulted in increased capacity without a need for a new plant. Bresee is also hopeful the township is in a position where Bath and Odessa can take on some new residential growth themselves.
On that train of thought, Bresee also believes Loyalist has made significant strides to become one municipality 20 years after amalgamation.
“I personally believe (the divide) is significantly less than it was. Occasionally, you hear echoes about it but I don’t think the sense is it’s near what it was. We still have work to go to become one united municipality,” Bresee said, noting there was a sense industrial wind turbines — one of the biggest issues impacting this council term — were only an Amherst Island issue, but decisions impact the entire municipality.
Looking forward to the next council term, Bresee said he believes recreation will be a hot topic. The W.J. Henderson Recreation Centre is 45 years old and costs to operate it are high.
“We need to make a decision fairly soon: Do we spend on maintenance and repair, or do we look at new? It’s a huge issue in the coming term office,” he said, adding there have also been plans floated about having the municipal office moved to the recreation centre as part of a community hub, but that may be the subject of debate.
Bresee says he’s also hearing a demand for dog parks.
Despite filing early, Bresee said he doesn’t envision himself actively campaigning until the nomination period closes in July. At present, he said, voters’ attention is rightly focused on the provincial election. Given that, Bresee was asked why he filed early. He said he didn’t want to leave any doubt he wants the job.
“I didn’t want anyone to think I was doing anything else. If people want to challenge me, great, but I didn’t want people to have to sit and wonder,” he said. “Everybody is asking me anyway. The rule is you can’t campaign until you file. Me saying I want to run is a form of campaigning. I wanted it really clear right up front.”
[Editor’s note: The above profile was published in May when Bresee entered the mayoral race. Given that other candidates have been profiled in the last two months after the campaign started, he has been given opportunity for a brief follow-up, posted below.]
Noting he’s not the incumbent, but the next thing to it, Ric Bresee said he’s heard a great deal of positives from constituents while campaigning in Loyalist Township.
“Overall, the residents of the township feel things are running really, really well. That’s the feedback I’m getting at the doors,” the deputy mayor and mayoral candidate said.
Bresee said he’s enjoyed meeting new people on the campaign trail and hearing about their interactions with the township. Controlling taxes and bringing in more commercial and industrial base remains key for him. Recreational items like a dog park and splash pad are on people’s lists.
Through candidates’ meetings, Bresee said the candidates have offered similar answers for improving the town. He believes his years of municipal council experience can be the difference.
“It comes down to who can actually do it,” he said. “Candidates who have never been on council can spout simple ideas for complex problems. When you get on council, you have a huge learning curve. I like the idea of new councillors but the mayor and deputy mayor need to have that experience and knowledge of how the complex political machine works to get things done.”