Tillsonburg Mayor Deb Gilvesy spoke of the past year and the exciting things to come for the town during 2025 while presenting a speech at the levee. The event drew close to 100 people, including former Mayor John Armstrong, members of the historical society, a contingent from the Legion and interested citizens. Jeff Helsdon Photo.
By Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tillsonburg Mayor Deb Gilvesy reflected on the successes of the past 12 months and provided insight into the coming year during her speech at the mayor’s levee on Sunday.
Held at Annandale National Historic Site and hosted by the Tillsonburg Historical Society on Jan. 5, the annual event provides an opportunity for the public to interact with their elected officials. It also gives the mayor an opportunity to speak on the past and future.
Speaking to the past year, Gilvesy spoke of the town’s largest initiative: the work at the Tillsonburg Community Centre.
“As we glimpse back to 2024, I wish I could stand before you to say that the indoor aquatics area at the Tillsonburg Community Centre has been opened, but unfortunately, I cannot,” she said, mentioning the many unforeseen challenges, such as asbestos, that caused delays.
The good news is she said the renovated health club is now open, and the remainder of the facility should be open at the end of the month. She also mentioned the new pickleball courts, resurfaced tennis courts, and the opening of two new parks.
The mayor also recounted that the town had an opportunity to test its emergency preparedness system with a boil water advisory due to a false positive in a water test. She urged residents to download the town app to keep up to date on any new urgent messages.
“A great success story is the airport, which did not require tax dollars to operate in 2024,” Gilvesy said. “It is very scarce in Ontario to find an airport that is not using tax dollars to sustain operations. Growth and increased fuel sales have made this possible.”
The town having an airport was a factor for a new industry, Armtec, locating in Tillsonburg. It plays a vital role for Air Ornge as regulations only allow the helicopters to land at a lit airport or helipad from dusk to dawn. The airport also has customs clearance services.
The fire communications centre, which provides 9-1-1 services for 27 communities, is another success the mayor highlighted in her speech.
“Fire Comm was on life support and costing our taxpayers up to $200,000 to subsidize other communities for 91-1- service,” she said. “In just a few years, Fire Comm is now providing a profit for future Fire Comm investments.”
The projected surplus for 2024 is $320,382. Gilvesy credited staff for updating old contracts and seeking new contracts to turn this around.
In the coming year, Tillsonburg will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founding. In March 1825, George Tillson made the trek from Courtland to Tillsonburg and settled overlooking Otter Creek. The town is planning an event on Oct. 18, and other activities will be planned throughout the year, including an event in conjunction with National Indigenous People’s Day on June 21.
Gilvesy has been advocating at the provincial and county levels, saying that “growth is not paying for growth” due to infrastructure and health care pressures.
“Quality of life is in erosion. Increased homelessness, mental illness and drug abuse are all too apparent,” she said, explaining there needs to be the right mix between commercial and industrial growth, which do generate revenue, and residential.
On the industrial front, 2024 was a record year for industrial growth.
Lake Lisgar may be drained in 2025 to deal with siltation and repair infrastructure. Gilvesy explained that the lake is filling up with silt, and the drain valve is plugged. She recounted that members of the historical society told her prior to her speech that much of the lake's infrastructure is nearly 90 years old. She assured that this beautiful asset to the town will be maintained.
Continuing on the topic of historical assets, Gilvesy provided an update on the Kinsmen Pedestrian Bridge over Participark. The design phase for this connecting link to downtown is complete. The $5-million project does not qualify for upper-level funding as there are no programs for pedestrian bridges.
“The existing stone abutments, which really serve as the main architectural reminder that this bridge was constructed well over 100 years ago, will remain in place,” Gilvesy said.
One project that bridged 2024 and 2025 is affordable housing. In March 2024, council approved a community improvement plan that provides support for multi-residential affordable housing. The Harvest Ave Inc. development, behind McDonald’s restaurant, is the first recipient of the funding outside the downtown core. It will have 29 lower-than-market-rate rental units.
“The town has been listening and now responding in providing more affordable units to our residents,” Gilvesy said. “This development is paving the way to meet those affordable demands and will bring housing options to the citizens of Tillsonburg. This is an exceptional development with unprecedented amenities with an anticipated timeline to view model units in May 2025.”
The mayor was upfront about the challenges associated with homelessness in the town and downtown. She was hopeful of change, mentioning provincial legislation anticipated to pass in March to make drug use illegal in all public places, a rework of trespass laws and converting safe injection sites to addiction treatment centres while also creating more treatment centres.
Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman attended the levee and spoke of the new initiatives.
“Helping people continue their problem is not near as helpful as helping with their problem,” he said of the treatment centres.
Coun. Chris Rosehart, the only councillor at the event, was impressed with the turnout.
“The major did an awesome speech, and we’re a fortunate community to be where we are,” she said.
Gilvesy did read out regrets from Deputy Mayor Dave Beres and Coun. Pete Luciani.
Morris, a former town CAO, was impressed with the speech.
“Good to hear the mayor here with good news,” he said. “You hear so much bad news these days.”
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