After 31 years, South Bruce municipal Administrator David Johnston will retire on March 31st.
Johnston started his municipal career with the former Village of Mildmay back in 1978.
He was working as a banker in the community at the time and was friends with the former clerk who was leaving to work on his family’s farm instead.
Johnston says he watched for the job to be advertised in the newspaper and then applied.
He worked for Mildmay for 20 years, and then one year with Mildmay-Carrick after the two merged, and then 11 years with South Bruce.
As for the municipal amalgamations that took place during the 1990’s, Johnston says Mildmay and Carrick fit each other like a glove, and that amalgamation should have happened long before it did.
Johnston notes the amalgamation of the Village of Teeswater with Culross Township was also voluntary.
He says the following amalgamation that led to the formation of South Bruce was part of a county restructuring program.
Johnston says he will miss the people he’s worked with the most and has always had good relations with councils and staff. He says it’s all about teamwork.
Johnston says he has no immediate plans for his retirement and wants to just take things easy.
Johnston says they’re in the midst of the hiring process for his successor and the deadline to apply passed on December 14th.
He says the municipality will get into the process early in the new year.