John Funk

Niverville Deputy Mayor John Funk is seeking another four years on Niverville Council.

Funk has been on council for 25 years, serving as Deputy Mayor for the past seven and Acting Mayor for most of the past year.  Funk notes his interest is still there, and he had a lot of people asking him to run again.  He explains one thing he does well is look after the town as a whole.

"We govern all the people," Funk describes.  "Any decision we make should be for the majority of Niverville residents, not just trying to influence a small select group or lobby group."

Funk adds he is very proud of what they have accomplished in the past four years.

"Getting the personal care home into Niverville is huge, it's state-of-the-art," he explains.  "The expansion of the water treatment plant is also state-of-the-art, it's reverse osmosis and there are very few of those in the province right now.  There are many different things like that and road construction and sidewalks are always going forward."

Funk says it is advantageous to be an incumbent councillor, as it usually takes a new councillor around one year to fully get up to speed on all of the projects that are underway.  Some of those projects include the planned expansions of the lagoon, water treatment plant and waterlines.  Funk notes there is one area in Niverville that needs to be improved in the next four years.

"We know that business is the main tax burden," he describes.  "They carry the main burden of the town, and we are right now less than 25% business tax and over 75% residential.  It's hard for housing to pay for any of the structures we build.  We're looking at doing an outdoor pool and splash pad, and we're looking at an indoor soccer pitch.  Those types of things are coming up on the horizon."

Funk adds he has enjoyed working with the town for the past 25 years and it has been quite the trip from the community of 400 houses when he started on council to a current population of close to 5,000.