Being a Councillor means representing the township at various functions and organizations throughout the year. Mayor Shantz carries the bulk of those duties, but the rest of us pitch in when scheduling doesn't work. Attending the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival isn't so much a duty though; it's just a part of the tradition as a life-long resident.
We may not fully agree with a lot of the issues facing Council, but when it comes to the pancake flipping contest at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival we are in complete agreement: we play to win.
In the past 3 years, the Council team has out-performed dozens of teams — younger, more athletic, teams with firearms and many of our colleagues in other townships and cities. We earned third place twice and last year stepped up to the final round and finished second. It's a proud moment when you see every member of Council leaving their effort all on the floor. CAO Brenneman has stepped up to adorn a scuba flipper in times to contribute to our success.
The competition is 30-second rounds of getting a pancake from A to B using various tools and working together. In that brief encounter, a sense of camaraderie helps to remind us that, while at times we are adversarial about certain issues around the council table, we're all in this together for one purpose: to win for our communities. I look forward to bringing it next year and working with Council as team players working towards the same goal.