Footsteps are being heard on the Orangeville campaign trail as incumbent Deputy Mayor Warren Maycock has announced his intention to seek re-election and local resident Karl Pilatzke has declared his intention to seek a seat on council.

Mr. Maycock is using his decade of service on council as a cornerstone of his campaign, while the 24-year-old Mr. Pilatzke – a Royal Bank customer service rep – says it is time for new blood on the council.

A pressing challenge for the next council, which will be voted for Oct. 25, is to maintain operations and carry on necessary infrastructure projects while keeping property tax increases low.

As well, there is a need to replenish cash reserves depleted by the town’s one-third participation in 2009 infrastructure projects which were proportionately funded by the federal and provincial governments.

“I would hope that we could keep taxes load, while still doing infrastructure projects and building up reserves,” said Mr. Maycock in an interview.

“I would rather see us build up reserves without going into huge debt.”

As an example, he points to the potential $7 million in revenue from the sale of the town-owned railway as a way reserves could be replenished without having to raise cash through taxes.

Despite the recent closure of the Johnson Controls and Pfizer plants in Orangeville, Mr. Maycock remains optimistic about attracting jobcreating industries to the town.

“We will do all we can to attract manufacturing jobs to Orangeville,” he said. He favours continuing the current town practice of waiving development charges for new industry proposing to build new facilities in the town.

A teacher at Princess Margaret Public School, Mr. Maycock was a councillor from 1997 to 2000 and again from 2003 to 2006.

He has been deputy mayor since 2006.

In a press release, he made a list of the accomplishments on the present council.

“By partnering with the federal and provincial governments, we invested tens of millions of dollars into improving our roads, sidewalks, sewers and water system.

“We renovated the Tony Rose Sports Complex, created thirty new seniors apartments, and started to get the town’s finances back on a solid foundation.”

Mr. Pilatzke, a life-long Orangeville resident, showed respect for the current council in an interview Tuesday, but indicated that he felt a younger demographic of the population was not being represented.

“The current council is connected,” he said. “They’re good team players and they seem to work well together.

“But it’s been the same councillors for quite a few years and it’s time for newer opinions, newer views and newer ideas.”

He did, however, stress that council should remain fiscally prudent in the next term and the challenge will be for council to accurately determine “what the community actually needs and not what it wants.”

Mr. Pilatzke pointed to recreation as an important factor in building a stronger community.

As for council’s controversial decision to kill a rail-side walking trail, he says, “I would have voted for it, and studied different options on how to construct it.”

Both Mr. Maycock and Mr. Pilatzke were asked why they announced their candidacies at such a relatively early date and whether expressing one’s views so soon would give later candidates the advantage of coming back on them.

Mr. Maycock said he has also declared early in other campaigns.

“The main reason I declare early is I always want the people to know where I stand.”

He already has a challenger for his position. Don-Christopher Culver’s candidacy for deputy mayor had already been filed.

Mr. Pilatzke suggested that, as a candidate who advocates pro-active thinking municipal government that thinks ahead, it was reasonable to present himself early.

“I will always be ready,” he said. “I think people will always remember who I am and what I stand for.”