The nominations for municipal councils across Ontario opened today and Petrolia already has a candidate for mayor.

Richard Poore, the town’s former director of Director of Cultural Services, was the first to officially file papers in the election in Petrolia. He retired in 2018 and right now serves as the chair of the volunteer board of the Petrolia Discovery Foundation.

“I’ve been placed throughout my careers, both voluntarily and within my job scopes, to be leader of various organizations, and I want to bring those skills and my experience and my wonderful experience working in the town and living in the town …to bring that to the to the mayor’s position,” he tells The Independent.

Poore, 63, has never run for public office but believes he’s well suited for the role as mayor.

“I really believe that my leadership skills and experience lend themselves really well to the what is officially known as the head of council to that leadership role.”

And he doesn’t believe it would be difficult to be the political head of the body overseeing administrators he has worked with. “I think being mayor, you need to find all of those balances, and you have to listen and be fair. And so no, I wouldn’t perceive that I would have any conflict there.”

Poore says the campaign is just getting started and he plans to listen to the concerns of the community. But he says the development of the town something he’s concerned about. “I think it’s really important to strategically plan for all of this growth,” says Poore. “I want to see Petrolia grow and develop and become the best place that people can possibly come to live and play and experience.”

The current mayor, Brad Loosely, wasn’t immediately available to comment on whether he would seek re-election.