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Clinton News Record, 2014-12-24, Page 88 News Record • Wednesday, December 24, 2014 Because you love your MedicAlert®.The bracelet with an emergency hotline linked to your medical record. Call 1-866-734-9422 or visit www.medicalert.ca. Q MedicAlert Lets You Live Life. BABIES OF 2014 Join The Clinton News -Record's "BABIES ON PARADE". A photo display of babies born in 2014 Published Wednesday, January 14, 2015. DEADLINE: January 3rd, 2015, 4pm Bring in a picture of your little one born in 2014, including full name, birthdate and parents names, to be featured in the Clinton News -Record's "Babies On Parade" on January 14th, 2015 for only $20.00 (HST included). Please send picture (with name on back) along with payment to The Clinton News -Record, P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOM 1LO by 4pm, Friday Jan. 3rd This feature must be pre -paid. r L PLEASE COMPLETE Baby's Full Name Birth Date Parent's Names Resident of Siblings Weight at Birth Baby's Nickname Grandparents $20.00 Enclosed Il Three decades later, Dowson says it's still all about the people Lynda Hillman-Rapley QM! Agency It was always about the people. That is why Bill Dow - son became a council mem- ber in 1983 and that is why he continued serving the people until his recent defeat in the 2014 municipal election. For Dowson, it began when he was 18 years of age. He helped his dad farm on a piece of land that had been in the family since the 1800s. He said that Wally McBeath asked him if he could help them out digging holes and posts. His dad Harold told McBeath they could have his son, when he was not needed on the farm. Bayfield was switching over to dial phones at that time and Bill was in high demand. That short stint, when he was not farming, carried Dowson for 18 years as a linesman. He married Joyce on August 13, 1960 and they had three children; Brenda, Bonnie and John. In 1978, due to the health of Harold, Dowson left the telephone company to help work the farm. His older brother John had died in a farm accident and his dad needed his help. But, he missed working with people and decided since his family had been part of this com- munity for 180 years; he had a civic duty to be part of the local council. In the fall of 1983, Dowson became a council member under reeve Clarence Rau in Stanley Township. The great- est issues in those days were the roads and that council, he says, worked together for a better future for everyone. He kept that position through elections and became deputy reeve before the process of amalgama- tion. He would become the first mayor of the newly amalgamated Bluewater in 2001. Amalgamation was tough, Dowson said. Not everyone agreed with the transition, "But it had to come. It had to happen," he said. He could see the writing on the wall with downloading of ser- vices from the province, less money and the cost of doing businesses rising, he said the Mr. Bill Dowson partnerships with other communities was a given. One thing that Dowson regrets is that they sat back and did not take notice to what was happening with emergency services. The new cross county bounda- ries should not have hap- pened. "Police, ambulance and fire should be able to go where they are needed with- out the politics of who pays for whom," he said. "We should have fought that." He says the amalgamation process was tough for Hen- sall and Bayfield. At a public meeting he remembers two young ladies, high school students, who got up and told the packed forums that were fighting the marriage of the towns and villages that they liked the amalgamation and where it was going. They liked going to a high school with people from their municipality. And they liked the name Bluewater. Dow - son feels that was the turn- ing point for the naysayers. "We are the roadmap for future generations and I think the people understood that," he said. For his more than three decades of serving his com- munity, Dowson said he liked being out there talking, listening and communicating with residents. He said he was not a person to hang around the municipal office, microman- aging or getting into the way of staff. "They know their work. They are educated and qualified to do what they need to run the municipality:' As for the greatest chal- lenge as mayor, Dowson said the cost of doing business has gotten out of control and he had a commitment to give the people what they wanted, what they needed. "You have to work with the money you have to keep taxes in line." Having said that, a high- light for Dowson was the Rural Development dollars his council received from the province in the tune of $7.5 million. He does not shy away from the fact that no other municipality was given a gift like this. "We worked together with the province and this was a way for MPP Carol Mitchell to thank us. We had a positive relation- ship with upper tier governments." Without those dollars, says Dowson they could not have afforded two new libraries - one in Bayfield and one in Zurich. They would have been able to do the paving to the lake and they would not have been able to update their landfill sites. An important lesson Dowson takes with him from more than 30 years, as a council member is to be patient. "Take your time to make sure everything is ready to proceed. You get nothing by getting mad. There will be struggles but if you are good and kind and remember why you are there, you will be rewarded." He said there are always more than two sides to every issue and every angel must be looked at. "And always remember, you work for the taxpayer, they are your boss." What will Bill Dowson do now? "I am just as busy," he says, "I am staying on the farm doing whatever I can to help:' With 12 grandchildren and now great grandchildren the family farm has entered the eighth generation of Dowsons. He has been asked to sit on local committees and he will continue his work with the fair board and Bluewater Historical Society. He says although he will miss so much time working with the people, he will stay involved and continue to listen.