Hudson residents welcome new mayor with hope of a corruption-free future

Hudson residents are eager to put their history of corruption in the past and say that'swhy they elected Jamie Nicholls, a new mayor promising to clean up Town Hall.

In 2016, the town's director general Louise Lger-Villandr pleaded guilty to fraud, breach of trust and using forged documents, after she was caught stealing $1 million from the municipality's coffers.

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Life-long residentMegan Kirby is among those whovoted for Nicholls. She has high hopes that he can bring the town out of the shadows of corruption left by Lger-Villandr.

"I think he will have challenges ahead of him," Kirby said as she was leaving a grocery store. "But the council that was brought in [Sunday] night, I think they're going to be great together."

Transparency, accountability top priorities

Nicholls is also a long-time Hudson resident.

In 2011, he ran for the NDP and sat as a Member of Parliament until 2015. As a critic, he was responsible for the portfolios relating to transportation, natural resourcesand official languages.

During Sunday night's municipal election, Nicholls won1,788 votes, which represented 74 per cent of all of the town's ballots.

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The nearest competitor, William Nash,had 507 votes or 21 per cent, and the third candidate, Joseph Eletr, received five per cent of the vote.

Transparency and accountability are some of theissues Nichollssays hewants to tackle right away.

Among the extra steps he'd like the town to take towards transparency and accountability, are monthly meetings held by councillorsand the residents of their districts.

"We'll be setting benchmarks by developing an accounting system for public value, to show how much value we're giving to the public," Nicholls said. "And that will be communicated in monthly scorecards that we'll send to citizens."

Nicholls'sexperience and ideas are what drew Don Dickison to vote for him.

"I think we're on the right track," said Dickison, who is eager to move on to other pressing issues. "[We] need to start concentrating on the infrastructure that this town needs badly."

Next, sidewalks

Jim Thomas lives in abuilding with many senior citizens. He would like to see the town fix its sidewalks.

"Some people can't even walk [on the sidewalks]," Thomas said. "A couple [of elderly people] have fallen on the sidewalk. It's very dangerous."

Nichollssaid the town will have to establish a strategy for how best to go about fixing its roads.

"I think the place to start is sidewalks," he said, echoing Thomas's sentiment.

"In terms of roads, we're going to do it step by step. We're going to look at the priority list and make sure the roads are built for the long term."