Time to get to work!
This was an incredibly close election and I am grateful to the community for allowing me to serve in this important role.
I want to thank John Henderson for dedicating himself to the community for the last 12 years, including navigating a global pandemic. I also would like to thank Suzanne Seguin who has worked tirelessly to make the town corporation more transparent and accountable to the voters.
What will happen now?
On November 15th I swear in as Mayor of Cobourg and will officially begin the work in this role. Until the official ceremony, I am meeting with staff at Town Hall, community groups, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, Sustainable Cobourg, Northumberland County and other key players in the community.
In other words, the coming month will be one of intensive onboarding into this role.
As soon as I am sworn in, I will be able to officially start the work on the key issues outlined in my platform together with the Council, Town Staff and Northumberland County.
I am excited to get to work with all the great people working for this town!
Lucas Cleveland
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Let's make things happen in Cobourg
We live in a town with so much potential - let's work as a team to make Cobourg the best place to live for all of us.
I fell in love with Cobourg the moment I visited and immediately moved with family to invest our lives, money and efforts into this wonderful community. I've encountered thousands of other like minded individuals who have been moving to the area for the same reason... this town is incredible and it feels like it's about to become something even greater. The potential is electric.
I asked the community what I could contribute with and the answer was overwhelming; a one of a kind fresh downtown market designed to serve its community. Over the past 5 years I have attracted, built and led our amazing team by concentrating on teamwork, hard work, building consensus, staying accountable and transparent, striving for progress not perfection and above all by always asking;
How can the Market better serve its community and customers?
Now I want to offer my time, energy and specific skill set back to this amazing community by running for Mayor. I want to work with everyone in this amazing community to build inclusive teams that work together to unlock this town's potential. I want to help make Cobourg the best town to live in for ALL of us.
Three pillars of moving Cobourg forward
01
TEAMWORK
Bringing our ideas and vision for Cobourg to life requires us to work together. That means politicians, Town staff and all residents of Cobourg.
Many ask me what I think we should do in Cobourg - but before that comes how. And the answer is working together across the political spectrum while focusing on getting projects done on time and on budget.
02
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
03
PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION
For us to work together, we need to share information. The residents of Cobourg should have insight into how projects progress in Town Hall, why budgets are spent and why
projects are needed. Then once we commit to getting something done, we need to follow up and be accountable for both successes and failures.
Very few people get everything right on the first try. But without trying, there's no learning and no progress. To make Cobourg the best place to live for us all, we'll have to look outside to get inspiration, learn from others, launch initiatives, and then learn from both our successes and failures.
Contact Me
Send me a text!
I want to hear about your vision for Cobourg. What do we need to do better to be the best town for you?
Email
Longer thoughts, questions or inquiries? Write an email!
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See what I'm up to and watch videos about my campaign and platform as we head to the election
289-691-7667
VOTE FOR COBOURG
Join the Change!
1
Join our team
Are you great at listening to our community's needs, coordinating, writing, talking to people, doing social media or just excited about a new kind of mayor in Cobourg? Reach out!
2
Donate
Getting the message out to the community requires resources for printing, advertising and media. If you resonate with my vision, any donation is appreciated!
3
Show your support
Visible support goes a long way. A lawn sign, button, pin or poster in the window is a great way to show your community that you're voting for great changes in Cobourg.
My Vision: The best place to live in Canada
I believe that Cobourg has the potential to be be the best place to live in Canada for its residents. I feel that now, I felt that the day I arrived and I say that as someone who has had opportunity to travel and live in a variety of cities, provinces and countries over the past 42 years. This place, its people, the historical buildings, the culture and arts, the music scene, the local businesses and the entire community at large are incredible.
People that grew up here as well as the more recent arrivals to town all feel that there is something magical and wonderful about Cobourg and there is this underlying feeling that we could be doing more, that Cobourg isn't reaching its potential.
A vision for Cobourg
Cobourg can become efficient and effective in managing and completing major projects like the waterfront revitalization with broad based support across the public domain.
Cobourg can be a town that listens equally to all in our community including long time residents, the homeless, developers, families and historians to ensure we all feel heard and think positively about the way forward.
Cobourg should be a place where everyone is proud to live in a town that takes care of the less fortunate in our community with care and compassion in an efficient, effective and cost effective way like no other town in Canada.
We can be a community where we are listened to and responded to by the town and others in the community with respect, where we all are able to feel that our needs are being met and where we are all made to feel welcome and valued.
A vision for how the Town Hall works with the community
A Town Hall where our staff welcomes additional training, support and feedback to allow them to reach their full potential and have a greater sense of accomplishment, professionalism and skill development.
A teamwork where we come together as a community to solve our societal problems and where council and the mayor are instrumental in ensuring that everyone has a seat at the table for better understanding and acceptance across the community.
Cobourg, a town that makes a decision and then has the ability to follow through with that decision because there was public consensus achieved first.
A council that is led from a place of accountability and transparency by focusing on teamwork and all that it entails, by working to switch the mindset in town hall and in the community to progress over perfection. This way, we can start the process of becoming the best place to live in Canada for everyone here.
No, I'm not a long-time politician. And that's a good thing.
I am not your average politician and I do not have all of the answers to the very real and difficult problems facing our society in 2022 and beyond. But I am a great problem solver.
I am someone who thinks outside the box and who has a proven history of effectively managing large teams to accomplish very difficult tasks in the commercial and private sector. I am a teambuilder. My vision is to serve as your Mayor for 4 years, to do the best job I can to make this town the best place to live by focusing on teamwork, accountability, transparency , consensus building, and by making small consistent and meaningful forward steps day to day versus striving for perfection or dealing with ideological disagreements.
I will always approach deciding on the agenda and how I vote in council through the lens of "will this help to make Cobourg the best place to live for its residents?"
I have a vision where we all work together to unlock Cobourg's potential for each one of us.
Let's all Vote for Cobourg.
Cobourg, a place where...
Town Hall
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works as a team to build consensus in the community not stoke divisions.
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is efficient and able to make decisions, without consultants and then be willing and able to pivot and adapt if and when the situation changes.
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works to engage all members of our community to ensure the vision and goals we set have community support and community consensus.
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strives for a culture of excellence and outstanding customer service through the use of KPI's, job descriptions, and modern, proven management tools.
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focuses its time, resources and efforts on the priorities that matter to the majority of those in Cobourg and wastes no time on the things it can not control or that are of interest to small and/or vocal minority.
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has the trust and faith of the majority of its constituents because it is always working towards making Cobourg the best place to live for all of us.
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prioritizes accountability, transparency, public engagement and is willing to take calculated risks based on community feedback and a desire to progress toward excellence.
Families
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can afford a home and still have money left to live a quality life.
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have varied and well paying job prospects for themselves, and their teenagers and young adult children across a variety of industries in and around town.
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have their young adults who are about to leave home see a future in the town.
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have access to viable transportation options to and from Toronto and around the community.
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Feel that their needs, wants and vision for what Cobourg can be is represented in council.
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who have members of their own family struggling with mental health or addictions can count on their community to lend a helping hand.
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have a variety of resources and programming available to encourage healthy engagement with their community and with town council to ensure they too feel that they are living in the best town possible.
Seniors
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feel like the town cares as much about their concerns as they do attracting tourists and manufacturing jobs.
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are able to access the services and information that they need in a timely and efficient fashion.
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have access to a wide variety of transportation solutions and living arrangements based on needs.
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are able to contribute to the governance of the town through a registry of qualified resident volunteers.
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are encouraged to participate in the day to day operations of the town and not treated as if they are a burden to doing business.
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are able to access all of their healthcare, entertainment, food and other necessities within the community that they live.
Major Projects
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are prioritised and funded based upon what they will contribute to making Cobourg the best place to live for all of its residents.
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are broken down into smaller more easily managed steps to ensure we can correct course as the situation and town needs change.
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are thought out, well planned, researched and take into account the need, time and effort required for intense public engagement and consensus building prior to moving forward.
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are handled by the staff in town as much as possible to ensure that our team in town hall is building upon their skill sets and that we are taking on projects that are both needed but also feasible and completable.
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are approached from a new perspective focusing on progress over perfection.
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are followed through to completion with a formal review process to ensure that we as a community continually learn from our mistakes so that we can get better at projects.
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will use technology and modern systems of information gathering to actually communicate with ALL residents about the plan, process and progress on a regular basis throughout the project
Businesses
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are treated as the economic drivers they are in the community and welcomed and encouraged in both in words and in action including the reduction of red tape and bureaucratic time wasting.
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of all kinds are incentivized to move to town and not just manufacturing jobs.
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feel welcomed and are celebrated for the hard work and risk taking they do to bring jobs, tax revenue and services to the community.
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Are free of by-law officers and town officials who believe their job to be policing businesses.
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Have access to constant and reliable electricity.
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Who work together to encourage more businesses to come to Cobourg because they think with an abundance mindset and know that growing the town's reputation means greater success for all.
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who also work within the community as a teammate to make Cobourg the best town it can be for ALL.
My Background
BSc of Arts, Double Major in Political Science and Philosophy
Created a restaurant consulting business at age 23 to reduce waste and create operational efficiencies. I created a system that I could take to many restaurants to reduce theft and losses and would then work with the restaurant team to implement strategic goals.
10+ years experience in the Oil and Gas industry
working with teams to reduce operational blindness in an industry very opposed to change. My hard work and thinking like an 'outsider' culminated in a lead position with Weatherford International where I was responsible for building and leading teams responsible for the implementation and execution of 10-200 million dollar site specific drilling operations across Canada.
Moved to Cobourg 6 years ago after the birth of my son ready and willing to contribute and give back to this amazing community. Strategically researched conceptualised, built out and operated a first of its kind ' zero food waste' local green grocer based on what the community needed and wanted. Hired 30+ staff in 3 years and replaced myself to move on to help the community in a new role.
Throughout my career I have always been drawn to finding a better more effective and efficient way of doing things especially in industries and professions that ascribe to a rationality of process "because we have always done it that way". I have had the fortune of working with and leading some of the best minds across three distinct industries and have been able to do so effectively by always being the hardest worker in the room, accountable, honest and humble. My lack of ego and willingness to fail fast and forward has ensured a quick stepping ladder from beginner to expert.
Above all I want to leave this world a better place for my son and the community that has given us so much.
Lucas Cleveland