Mike Mikolic, Lincoln, Ward 3

I came to know Lincoln in 1986 as a 16 year old working at my father’s gas station in Jordan. Even at that age, I was immediately impressed with all that the town had to offer-from its people to its natural beauty. It was because of this that I moved here, eventually taking over and running the local gas station/auto repair shop for over 20 years.

Together, my wife Danielle and I take great pride and pleasure in raising our two children, Madison and David, in the beautiful town of Lincoln. Throughout the years, I’ve developed many relationships with people from all walks of life around Lincoln and love the fact that we live in such a diverse community. It’s through these experiences and conversations I’ve had, that I hope to make Lincoln a better place.

From farm to subdivision, Lincoln is presented with many challenges, and working towards overcoming them all is vital to our community’s growth and success. I’ve experienced tax increases, infrastructure deterioration, and frustration with getting things done, and feel that we, as a town, can do better. When people ask me “Where’s Lincoln?” and I have to tell them it’s near the burned-out pirate ship off the QEW, I know we have to do better. MoneySense Magazine recently came out with their top 100 cities in Ontario for 2018, and to my surprise, Lincoln came up #79, below towns like Wilmot, Kincardine, or Kenora.

This may be acceptable for many, however, to drop from #58 the previous year indicates to me that we aren’t moving forward. Should I be elected, I’ll be insisting on responsible municipal spending. A line by line review of the budget each year, in conjunction with the town’s departments to ensure taxpayer priorities are being achieved in a cost-effective manner. Where possible, I will seek joint funding from all levels of government with respect to any project, ensuring that there is strict accountability for all spending by the Town of Lincoln.

I will try to find ways to promote the Town of Lincoln as a livable community that is safe, offers various housing options, quality schools and retail shopping for daily living. We need greater marketing of our town’s attributes for business, tourists, and residents. Our proximity to Toronto/Buffalo, wineries and agricultural communities, the Bruce Trail, Lake Ontario and safe neighbourhoods should not just be known by the residents who live here.

Should we promote ourselves and grow the way I feel we should grow, we would have to work with developers and residents to encourage balanced growth according to our current secondary plans, holding developers accountable for providing green space, sidewalks, and parking in their developments, while preserving the history and character of our villages. For over 20 years, my business has been to serve the community in an automotive capacity, however, I have now recently retired from this industry but hope to continue serving the community as your councillor.

Let’s move forward – together.