Former Goderich Mayor Delbert “Deb” Shewfelt was honoured this week for his service to the community over the past three decades.
To start off Monday’s town council meeting, Shewfelt was recognized for his years in municipal politics as a councillor, reeve, mayor, and warden for Huron County.
“I really do appreciate being recognized, but a lot of credit goes to councils that I had and certain people on those councils,” he said as he addressed council.
He took a moment to share his appreciation for the work he did with late Goderich mayor John Grace, before speaking about his efforts to clean up the waterfront early in his career.
“We arranged meetings with people on both sides, and we had great discussions. Feelings were running very high, so I thought at the time that maybe the OPP should be waiting in the parking lot. But council back in the day fixed the problem. A lot of people don’t know it. I knew we needed to have a strong base with good sewage and good water, and then you can build a town. ”
After his time in municipal politics, Shewfelt turned his attention to the Maitland Valley Conservation Board, and continued to advocate for clean water within the community, as well as preserving natural water sources.
He also spoke about efforts that council made was to ensure there was reliable healthcare in the community. “One of the other things that the town supported was the medical clinic. Because we were in a position at that time where we were not getting any doctors. So we toured around, the administration, to see what [other communities] were doing. At the time, I didn’t think that it wasn’t our responsibility but when we looked into it it wasn’t a priority of the province. And so the town took it on, and we can all agree that it’s a fantastic medical clinic, and there were a lot of funds that were spent on the hospital.”
Shewfelt left his audience laughing with his final thought: “I had a lot of fun. There were some challenging times, but we got through it. Would I do it again? You bet… but not now!”
