Stratford County. Kathy Vassilakos is running for mayor on a platform of sustainable development, accountable leadership, and open and honest public engagement in the upcoming municipal election.
A second member of Stratford council has announced they will compete for the mayor’s seat in October’s municipal election.
Roughly one wee after deputy mayor Martin Ritsma announced he would run for mayor, Coun. Kathy Vassilakos announced on her personal Facebook page that she too had officially filed her nomination papers to run for head of council.
“I’d always talked about the idea that I believe in two-term limits. I believe you have two terms on (council), you learn the ropes and then you make the decision; you either move on to a leadership role or you’re finished and you give somebody else the opportunity to take that council chair,” Vassilakos said. “So I did a lot of thinking about what’s coming up with the city and (developing) a vision for the city, and I thought I’d really like to be a part of that.”
With the city’s bike and pedestrian master plan being rolled into the transportation master plan, as well as an update to the recreation master plan, the potential development of an art and culture master plan and deliberations over Stratford’s new official plan on the horizon, Vassilakos said those who serve in the next term of council will have the opportunity to create a vision for the city that will drive local development over the next decade or two.
“I’d really like to finish the work we started on council over the last eight years and be part of hopefully leading a council and the public … through an exciting time and a transitional time.”
Should she be elected to lead council, Vassilakos knows her job as mayor will differ from her current role as councilor. Not only will she be responsible for directing meetings and guiding council through procedural matters, but she says a mayor should also take responsibility for ensuring the public is engaged with council’s decision making and that residents understand why and how decisions are made.
“How do we have discussions, not just about the fun stuff … but about the difficult stuff too,” Vassilakos said. “…That’s something I’ve never shed away from. If there was a difficult decision of council, if there’s something that was contentious, I’ve never had a hard time sitting down with people and saying, ‘This is why I was advocating for this (and) this is why council came to a position, whether it was the same as mine or not. And here are some of the challenges.’
“I think in a leadership role, you have to be able to be accountable for some of the decisions and be able to speak to them.”
When it comes to public engagement, Vassilakos is aware that not all residents are willing or able to involve themselves or speak to all of the important issues that happen on the council table, regardless of if a given issue will have an impact on them personally.
Whether it’s because of work or family responsibilities or because a resident may feel voicing an opinion at a public meeting is too intimidating, Vassilakos says it’s important to carefully consider whose voices are missing from a discussion and how the city can reach out to those people to ensure they have a chance to say their piece.
An effective mayor, Vassilakos continued, should also be able to recognize the differing passions and expertise of the 11 councilors sitting around the table and find ways for them to bring forward ideas or work on committees that make best use of their strengths, interests and the causes they care deeply about.
“How do you encourage them, how do you make space for their ideas to come forward to council so you can have a discussion about some of the ideas they bring?” she said. ” … Some people may have the passion but not necessarily the expertise required. There may be someone at the table who has been there for a while and has that expertise with how to get things done. So how do you make sure the two of them start to talk and bring ideas to council?
“That’s the connector piece that I think is so important.”
As someone with a strong background and education in science who has also served on the Huron Perth Public Health board and the United Way Perth Huron’s social research and planning council, Vassilakos strives to balance well-informed, evidence-based decision making with how residents see their city and how they believe it can grow and improve to make their lives better.
“There’s evidence-based decision making where you base everything on what the evidence tells you — the numbers and breaking it down into data — and then there’s evidence-informed decision making where you are following the evidence but you’re also making allowances for those things that are maybe a little harder to find evidence for,” Vassilakos said.
“It’s more that people end of it that you’re not going to find hard numbers for, where you are going to have to take into consideration some of those softer-science issues.”
Vassilakos says her vision for Stratford is a city in which people can live, work and play all in one place. In coming to any decision at the council table, she remains committed to analyzing the issues through a sustainable and holistic lens.
“How do we remind people that it’s not either/or? The one thing that frustrates me sometimes with decision making is people will say it’s either the economy or the environment. It’s either good jobs or protecting farmland. And it’s not. … If we could actually work on an official plan that allows us to intensify growth within the city boundaries so that we’re not growing out into farmland, we protect farmland, we improve our financial situation so that we can keep doing the great services we do like arenas and playgrounds and affordable housing, and then people have affordable, attainable places to live,” she said.
And with attainable and affordable housing, those who work here can afford to live here and the time many now spend commuting (and polluting) could instead be spent with family, friends and pursuing healthy and active lifestyles right here in Stratford, Vassilakos explained.
Win or lose, Vassilakos is excited to share her vision of the city with residents and listen to their hopes, dreams and concerns for Stratford through her campaign. Should she win, she says she will continue that open and honest dialogue with anyone and everyone who calls Stratford home.