Aylmer Police Chief Kyle Johnstone is offering reassurances to families who may have left Aylmer Old Town Hall on Oct. 15 with doubts about their children’s safety. During a council meeting there about the future of the library, a couple speakers suggested the town was unsafe for youngsters. Local realtor Johnny Friesen and Aylmer Councillor Kathryn…
The tax paid by property owners in Aylmer to the town each year are below the per capita rate and average tax burden in municipalities across Southwestern Ontario, Administrator Andy Grozelle will report to town council’s finance committee on Wednesday, Nov. 5. The town, he wrote, “continues to prioritize affordability and cost-efficiency as key objectives.”…
Tarry Parkway homeowner Steven Tolles went above and beyond in observing the Halloween theme this year. In addition to an elaborate front yard display and family members dressed as witches, he turned his garage into a “haunt,” featuring animatronic characters and eerie lighting. A big crowd was already gathering by 6 p.m. For more, see…
An open house at Southwold Township’s new Talbotville fire station on Oct. 25 showcased state-of-the-art amenities intended to help safeguard the rural community’s transition to accommodate rapid economic expansion across Elgin County. “The timing is ideal,” County Warden and Southwold Mayor Grant Jones told a small crowd at the event. “It’s been a long process…
All homes must now have carbon monoxide (CO) detectors on every level, not just near bedrooms, Aylmer Fire Services Coordinator Charity Fisher informed the Express recently. Carbon monoxide is a potentially deadly gas, and so far this year Aylmer firefighters have already responded to three calls with such gas confirmed as present in a home.…
Central Elgin addressed municipal code of conduct complaints against councillors Morgaine Griffin and Michelle Graham on Oct. 6, amidst integrity commissioner (IC) admonitions that “enmity” between members of council seems to have sparked a total of 13 code complaints in the past six months at a cost to taxpayers of about $16,300. A report on…
Warning: this story contains strong language “The time has come to make a decision,” Mayor Jack Couckuyt told fellow Aylmer council members at a special meeting at Old Town Hall, about that building’s future, on Wednesday, Oct. 15. They voted 5-1 in favour of an option to expand the Old Town Hall library and upstairs…
Steve Peters resigned his seat as a member of St. Thomas council on Oct. 15, with hopes of creating more time for family, and his passion for local history, while also focusing on his year-old role as chair of the Leamington-based Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) board of directors. “I’m 62 years old, I was…
East Elgin Community Complex board, at a meeting Wednesday, Oct. 8, voted 8-5 to get a detailed cost estimate, costing up to $10,000, on renovating Imperial Hall into a new space for the Aylmer library. Malahide Mayor Dominique Giguère, Deputy Mayor Mark Widner and councillors Sarah Leitch, Johnny Wilson, Rick Cerna, Scott Lewis joined town…
Aylmer council, meeting at Old Town Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 15, will discuss the cost of three options for potentially enlarging the downtown branch of the Elgin County library or building a new one, with costs ranging from $6.2-million to $8.9-million. The costliest option, according to JPM Architecture, would be $8.9-million to put an addition…
Nine new family doctors and two nurse practitioners were welcomed to the community on Oct. 2 as the St. Thomas-Elgin Health Recruitment Partnership, in conjunction with St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce and Doug Tarry Homes (DTH), hosted a “meet-and-greet” in Central Elgin. The health care workers were treated to soft drinks, finger foods…
Aylmer council’s finance committee members decided on Wednesday, Oct. 1, that they’d rather wait to see if the municipality received a provincial grant to help pay the estimated $805,000 in needed repairs to the town pool in 2026, even if that meant the facility might not open next summer. Doing so was proposed by Councillor…