A familiar face is running in Chatham-Kent's (CK) upcoming election.
Mark Authier, who served as a Ward 1 councillor from 2014 to 2022, is looking to rejoin the municipality's council. If elected, he would once again represent communities like Tilbury and Wheatley.
Authier didn't run during the last election due to health reasons and a desire to spend more time with family.
He told CK News Today that even though he was no longer a Councillor, people across the municipality continued to reach out. This proved to him that there are people who want him to run again.
"I'm refreshed and ready to go back at it," he said.
One of the bigger issues Authier wants the next council to address is flooding. Several communities, such as Authier's hometown of Tilbury, experience localized flooding due to undersized storm sewers, poor road drainage, and other issues.
Authier also has concerns with how much council is spending.
"I just think we're taxing people way too much, and I know part of it is the Ontario Government putting things down for us to cover, but I'm still not sure why they're projecting such a large deficit," he added.
Overall, Authier believes there needs to be significant change from this council, and he sees his past experience as something that'll help the municipality move forward.
"Somethings have been overlooked for a while, especially these past four years that I wasn't in. I wasn't there fighting for [residents]," said Authier.
CK's election will be on October 26, 2026.
