New Wilmot Township staffer to support council and other endeavors

Carly Pettinger has returned to her roots to help the township navigate the difficult process of council and ratepayer relations. But there is more to her new role.

The Gazette was recently able to sit down with Pettinger and Mayor Natasha Salonen to have a candid discussion regarding the new position and what benefit it is to ratepayers. Pettinger is the recently hired executive officer to the mayor and council.

Pettinger grew up in Waterloo, but her mother and stepfather decided to move to Wellesley the week before her first year in high school. She was 14 and a bit apprehensive but decided to embrace the community as she went to Waterloo Oxford District High School.

“I ran the Relay for Life, was on the student leadership team and I worked at Schmidtsville restaurant for seven or eight years, and I loved the townships,” she said.

After high school, she completed a double major in human rights and women and gender studies at Ottawa’s Carleton University and wasn’t sure if she would ever move back home after her parents both died of cancer before she was even 20 years old. She eventually decided to take a post-graduate program in public service at Conestoga College.

“I did a co-op placement with Waterloo New Democrat MPP Katherine Fife’s office and there was a vacancy in her constituency office so that was my first professional job. It was a fast-learning environment and then I was asked to work for former NDP Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo at Queen’s Park.”

Pettinger decided to come back to work at Fife’s community office when she and her wife decided to have a baby.

“We have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and she is the light of our lives.”

The job listing came out for the role at Wilmot and Pettinger explained the attraction for her was the heart of the people who live there.

“From the first week I started at W-O as a transplant from the big city, I knew people cared about the community and how it grows. I also know from my work provincially, communities across Ontario are growing and I want to be part of working with the mayor and council here to see that growth is intentional and community informed.”

Pettinger, at the age of 31, is three years junior to Salonen, the youngest elected female mayor in Ontario history. The mayor explained while she comes from a similar role with the provincial Progressive Conservative Party, the pair see eye to eye when it comes to doing better for constituents.

“Getting that more immediate support when we have ideas about community engagement like wanting to do town halls; we see larger municipalities facilitating that and generally they do have roles that do that.”

Based on previous council’s experience, Salonen said she was reflecting on some of the issues that frustrated people in the community. She added that all elected officials are in part-time roles, but with today’s instant digital world, people have elevated demands.

“We have 24/7 connection through our phones and with that, people have great expectations of our councillors. I say that because I have taken this on as a full-time role, although it is still deemed as a part-time job,” said Salonen.

“You don’t need to come and be a jack of all trades if you have good ideas. Carly is a support person to fill in the gaps. A great example is social media. Mine has sat silent since the election because I haven’t had time and, from a mental health perspective, because of the trolls, I haven’t had the bandwidth to want to go there.”

She added Pettinger can support her and councillors with social media if they want to venture into that world and share the great work they are doing. Salonen said the new role will assist her and the rest of council with work-life balance.

Pettinger’s first day on the job involved a five-plus hour council meeting that includes a few people who weren’t permitted to speak on something not on the agenda. Coun. Harvir Sidhu came to her with an idea regarding an open-mic policy.

“There would be X number of spots where people would be able to speak for several minutes. He asked me to go out and research best practices and I spoke with other municipalities to build relationships and he then spoke with our clerk. Part of my role is to have a pulse on what everyone’s hopes and dreams are and do some of the behind-the-scenes work.”

Salonen said another part of Pettinger’s role involves government relations. Other municipalities in Waterloo Region received funding under the federal government’s Housing Accelerator program, which Wilmot applied for.

“Our staff have been phenomenal with the application and following up when they can, but a big part of other areas receiving the funding is they have government-relations advocates who are actively working those channels. We are a heck of a lot smaller than the City of Kitchener, but having someone who can follow up on those relationships will really help us.”

Pettinger said she’s excited about her new role and has met one on one with each member of council to connect with constituents in a more direct way.

“I would say it’s been a busy-but-exciting couple of weeks. There are deadlines already but it's exciting to be learning the municipal world and translating my skills from provincial politics to the folks here.”

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Wilmot-Tavistock Gazette